Forbidden Love
by redwolfproductions
Summary: Once Rook meets the new Plumber, Chess, he beginnings to experience feelings he had never felt before. As time goes on, Rook begins to wonder what these feelings are. When he turned to help from his partner, Ben, he soon figures out what a 'crush' is. Now, Rook must determine what is more important to him: his true love or his partner and job.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 -

It was just an ordinary day in the city of Bellwood. Everything seemed perfectly normal. Well, as normal as the city of Bellwood could get.

"Now that I think about it," Ben muttered. "Everything seems TOO normal. I mean, no aliens falling from the sky, no Kyper seeking revenge, and no jail breaks."

"I concur." Rook agreed. "It is nice that everything and everyone is safe, but it seems almost too good to be true."

"Whatever." Ben shrugged. "I was personally looking forward to a work free day, anyway."

Ben and Rook were both sitting out side Mr. Smoothie, drinking their fill. Ben had already drunk two smoothies as he relaxed in the sun, but his partner, Rook, seemed to be on edge. Rook was always the one to be on edge, though. However, it irritated Ben that Rook would be so uneasy when there was nothing to do. Sure, the situation seemed too good to even be real, but who cared? It was nice to get a break every now and again, anyway.

Ben set his third smoothie (which was now empty) on the table, sighing. He lied back in his seat, thinking of something to break the silence. "Have you heard about that new recruit?"

"Hm?" Rook mumbled, not really listening.

"You know, that new Plumber coming to HQ sometime today." Ben muttered as he closed his tired eyes. "The one who just finished their training."

Rook's attention snapped back on. That was it. That must have been what was different, or out of balance. Rook had been a little off that morning for some strange reason, so he hadn't been able to pay attention much to the gossip going around HQ. Naturally, Ben had heard everything perfectly. Why hadn't he told Rook earlier?

Rook wasn't sure if the new Plumber coming to HQ was something bad or not, but he knew that something big was going to happen. He hadn't ever told anyone before, but he always felt on edge or out of balance whenever something big was about to happen. Rook wasn't sure exactly what made him feel this way, but he did know that something was indeed about to happen. He just hoped that it was good, not bad.

* * *

The rest of that day had gone by care free, despite Rook's unease. The next day, however, brought something new.

"Where are we going, again?" Ben asked for the millionth time in the truck.

"HQ." Rook answered.

"And … why?" Ben asked impatiently.

"Sir Max wants to show us something."

"You can just call him Max." Ben sighed.

By the time they got to HQ, everyone was moving and working at full pace. Rook and Ben walked through the crowd until they got to the meeting point. Like usual, there was Grandpa Max waiting for them at a corner. Ben greeted his Grandpa with a smile. Rook did his usual 'sir' meeting, which made Ben roll his eyes.

"It's great that you two are here." Max said with enthusiasm.

"What did you want to show us?" Ben asked, with excitement.

"It's not WHAT, it's who." Max pointed out.

Just as he said the words, someone rounded the corner. Rook was the first to spot her. He looked for a brief moment, but turned away, so she didn't think he was staring. In walked the new Plumber that had transferred to Bellwood. She had a mature figure and was tall. The first thing that Rook noticed was that she was cat-like. In fact, she looked just like a cat, but she had the figure of a human. Her base color was snowy white, but she had black markings here and there. There were black marking on the tips of her ears, arms, ankles, and her tail. The top of her head had long, black fur that Rook took for as hair. Some of it draped over and covered her eyes, but she would occasionally flip it back. She wore blue and yellow shorts along with a small blue jacket. Her jacket was unzipped, showing her navy colored shirt underneath it.

Once she rounded the corner, she looked at the group, as if deciding what to do. She flicked her tail to and fro. She then caught Rook's eye, looking away just the same as Rook. When Ben followed Rook's broken gaze, he saw the cat-like Plumber as well. Max then looked behind him, smiling.

"Chess come here and meet my grandson and his partner." Max encouraged.

Chess gave a shy smile and began walking towards them with grace that reminded Rook of a panther. When she saw Max, she gave him the same greeting as Rook had. She then turned to Ben.

"It's an honor to meet you, Ben Tennyson." she greeted kindly. She held out a paw, which Ben stared at for a moment. Once he got the memo, he smiled back and shook it. Her paw wasn't exactly like a cat's, but she did have fingers like a human.

She then turned to Rook, who smiled kindly back at her. She seemed to look away shyly, but turned back to him.

"I'm Rook. Rook Blonko." Rook greeted formally as he shook her hand.

"I'm Chess." she seemed to purr.

* * *

Chess had joined them in patrolling that day. Ben hadn't been as excited by the idea as much as Rook had. For some odd reason to Ben, he thought that Rook was showing great interest in her. Then again, Ben was curious, as well. He had seen many different aliens since he was ten, but none were like Chess. She seemed to be a human-cat creature, but Ben didn't seem to mind cats that much. After all, he was used to Rook.

However, Ben wasn't too fond of the idea that Chess was tagging along. She didn't really have to, but Rook suggested that he and Ben show Chess around while they patrol. It had taken Ben some time to get used to the fact that Rook was his partner, so he didn't like the thought of Chess coming along, as well. Therefore, Ben came up with a plan to ditch Chess. He knew that Chess had a kind heart and liked Ben, but she wouldn't shut up.

"How many aliens do you have? Is Rook a good partner? What happened to your team? Did you split up? Are you really human? Do you like earth? You must if you risk your life to protect it."

When Ben looked over at Rook, he was just smiling and rolling his eyes playfully. How could he stand Chess? Ben hadn't really noticed how when he wasn't looking, Rook would glance at Chess and whisper things in her ear. Ben had then noticed when Rook whispered something and Chess giggled. When Ben turned around, both were looking at him, but looked away as if nothing had happened. That was when Ben put his plan into action.

"You know, I think we'll patrol faster if we split up." Ben suggested.

Chess lit up. "Alright!"

Before Ben knew it, Chess had reached over to Rook, grabbing him by the arm and flying off in the other direction. Crap. That wasn't part of the plan. Ben grumbled to himself. Well, on the bright side, he at least could get some peace and quiet. Then again, without Rook he wasn't really sure where to go. Ben decided to leave planning to Rook.

* * *

Rook and Chess patrolled the dark streets in silence. Rook wasn't sure what say or do. For some strange reason, his stomach felt light, as if it were flipping. Rook had never experienced this new feeling before, so he assumed that he hadn't eaten enough that day or that he was getting a small stomach flu. Rook sure hoped he wasn't getting sick.

"Are we going to patrol the Undertown?" Chess asked, breaking the silence.

Rook thought for a moment. "Well, we were told to patrol the streets, so I would assume not."

Chess placed her hand on her chin, thinking. She grinned and looked at Rook. "Were we told NOT to patrol the Undertown?"

"Well, no ..." Rook answered.

"Were we told to ONLY patrol the streets?" Chess said, this time more sly.

"No." Rook answered simply.

"Well, then I would 'assume' that we could patrol the Undertown." Chess said with bliss.

Rook was surprised at how slyly she had surpassed their instructions. Normally Rook would have Ben to do that, but Chess did it with more grace and simpleness. Rook couldn't help but smiling at this. When he looked over at Chess and saw she was smiling back, Rook couldn't help but looking away, feeling slight heat rising to his face. Once Chess saw this, she just giggled and began to walk quickly in the direction to the Undertown. Rook wasn't sure what made his face feel hot, but he just shrugged it off and followed Chess.

After going through the tunnel and getting to the Undertown, Rook wasn't sure what Chess was coming at. "You haven't ever been here?"

Chess shook her head. "No. I wanted to see what it looks like."

From the looks of it, the sight was astonishing. Her eyes seemed to shine from the sight of aliens from all around the universe gathered in one place. In fact, Rook had to keep a close eye on Chess and walk quickly if he was to keep up with her.

Once Rook had caught up with her, he grinned. "I would get the impression that you have never seen other aliens before."

"Hm?" Chess hummed. "Oh, no. I've seen plenty of other aliens. You know, from training to be a Plumber and everything. I was raised on earth, so I'm pretty familiar with humans."

"Oh." Rook said, trying to process everything.

"How long have you been on earth?" Chess then asked, looking at him with golden-yellow eyes.

"About four months." Rook answered.

Chess flicked her ears with curiosity. "Well, where do you come from?"

"The planet Revonnah." Rook answered with a grin.

"Never heard of it. Is it nice there?" Chess pondered.

"It's alright." Rook seemed to say shyly.

Chess gave a small purr. "I'm from Feruendo. I can't really remember much about it, though."

Rook had just grinned as he was about to say something, but he was interrupted by a loud clattering noise. Rook then turned to Chess, wanting to tell her they should check it out, but Chess was already rushing into action. Rook just gave a surprised expression before rushing after her. Once he had caught up with her, he saw what the noise had been. There had been two robot-like aliens that had completely smashed a stand. The stand contained many different types of tech and gadgets. The two robot-aliens were grabbing what they could and putting the merchandise in a giant sack.

The merchant just lied on the ground in a daze, not sure what to do. When he turned and saw Rook and Chess, he looked like he had wanted to see something more. Perhaps Ben. Then again, he was in desperate need of assistance, so the sight of the two rushing in to help brought him hope that his stand still had a chance of surviving.

Any other aliens or creatures that saw the event just ran off in another direction to get away from the crime scene. By the time Rook and Chess got to the scene, the last of the witnesses had run off, leaving the merchant and the robbers alone. At first, when Rook and Chess appeared, only the merchant had seen them coming. The robbers seemed too caught up in taking what they could to notice the approaching Plumbers. As a result, one of the two had stopped grabbing items as he turned to the merchant, grabbing him by the collar of his suit.

To Rook's horror, the alien then shook the merchant while holding him upside down. Gold and silver coins then fell out of the merchant's pockets. Once the robber gave the stand keeper one last shake, he threw him into the distance, being finished. Rook was about to jump into action when a sudden rush of wind passed him. He looked just in time to see Chess flying by. Although she seemed to be moving at light speed, Rook could see every movement made.

Chess flew by the robber that had tossed the merchant. As she passed him, one of her paws shot out, hitting the robber with inhuman speed and strength, sending the robber flying a good yard or two, sliding on his back. Once Chess had delivered the blow, she instantly went for the flying merchant. She ran over just time tome to catch the small alien in her arms. Once she had caught him, she instantly stopped and placed him gently on the ground.

"Get out of here." Chess hissed.

The merchant took one last look at his stand before deciding to listen to his savior, spinning around and fleeing from the scene. It was then that both robbers were fully aware of what what happening. The robber that he been knocked to the ground quickly picked himself up, recovering from the shock. The other had set aside the bag of merchandise, preparing for combat.

Rook was about to pull out his Proto-Tool, but the robber that had set aside the bag suddenly rushed at him, knowing that Rook would make a move. Rook then dodged out of the way just as a fist was thrown at his face. Rook took a few steps back, giving himself room to make his own move. With only a few seconds to do anything, Rook pulled out his Proto-Tool just as he dodged another blow.

At first, Rook had set his tool to be in the form of a hand sword, but this proved to be useless. When the thug had swung his arm at Rook, all he could do to block it was use his tool, but the hand sword seemed to have no effect. Both robbers seemed to be wearing some form of armor. Knowing that the hand sword wouldn't do anything, Rook then took another step back, changing the setting to be a taser. When the thug's hand reached out, his finger tips touched the tool. Once a sudden surge of energy passed the robber, he instantly pulled back.

Deciding it wasn't worth it, the robber quickly turned around and grabbed his loot, making a run for it. As as the robber ran off, abandoning his companion, Rook sprinted after him. Rook was fast on his feet and ran much faster than the fleeing robber. Thinking quickly, Rook changed his Proto-Tool to be a bow. Quickly taking aim, Rook fired and hit the robber on the back. A sudden energy surge went through the thug's body, sending him to the ground in a heap.

Once Rook turned around, Chess was engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the other robber. She would either dodge or block any blow that came her away. The robber seemed surprised at her speed and strength. In one swift move, Chess kneed the robber in the stomach of his armor. Rook expected nothing to really happen, but the strength was enough to make the robber back up and hunch over in pain. Chess was about to throw another blow when the thug quickly recovered and charged at Chess. Rook gasped and got ready to come to her aid, but he was surprised to see she didn't need it.

Once the thug charged at her, Chess was ready. The two arms that were outstretched towards Chess collided with Chess's. They interlocked hands as brute force shoved Chess back. She dug her back paws into the ground, but the thug kept pushing forward, making Chess side against the hard ground. Dust began to fly up from her paws digging into the ground even as she slid. Chess clenched her teeth from the sharp pain that was inflicted on her paw black pads. Chess shut her eyes for a brief moment before opening them again, this time they were full of determination. Not only did she dig her paws into the ground, but she also braced her legs, stopping herself from sliding.

Once they both were pushing against each other with equal force, Chess gave a sly grin before taking a strong step forward. The thug seemed to suddenly become frightened as Chess took another step, pushing against his arms. All the thug could do was keep his arms straight, letting Chess push him back. No matter how hard he tried to keep pushing her back and weakening her, Chess just seemed to over power him as she took more brave steps.

Knowing that Chess had unnatural strength, the thug was now extremely afraid. His friend had fallen and his powerful opponent had overpowered him. Before he could react, Chess twisted her arms, sending the thug barreling to the side. Once he hit the ground, the robber let out a pained moan, his arms feeling as if they had been torn. He quickly tried to pick himself up off the ground and make an escape, but Chess was faster.

Positioning herself, Chess then pounced forward and landed her front paws on the robber's back, sending him back onto the ground. Trapped under her strong paws, the robber just gave in, feeling as if she had stolen all his strength. Chess raised one of her paws and shoved his face into the ground, making sure he had finished struggling. Chess gave a satisfied grin before standing back up.

Rook was standing in pure amazement, as if he had been frozen to the ground. Once he saw Chess stand up, breathing heavily, Rook then rushed to her aid. "Are you alright?"

Chess took in a deep breath and looked at Rook warmly. "Yeah, I'm fine. Paws are just a little sore."

When Rook looked down, he saw that her pure white fur was tainted with scarlet blood. From Rook looking down, Chess stole a glance, too. She seemed just as surprised. The pain hadn't seemed to catch up to her until she wiggled her toes, feeling how badly her paw pads had been cut. Seeing blood suddenly made Chess dizzy. She then fell to the side, but was caught by Rook. Once she came to her full scenes and realized that she had fallen into Rook's arms, she seemed to slightly blush. Before she got stand back up, there was a snicker.

"If you wanted to be alone, all you had to do was ask, okay?" Ben said aloud as he walked into the scene.

Both Rook and Chess stared at Ben, blushing and dumbstruck. Then Chess stood up and they both seemed to step a foot away from each other. They looked away from each other and seemed to try being innocent, as if they past few seconds hadn't happened.

"Sorry." Chess muttered.

"It is nothing." Rook said, trying not to look into her gaze.

Ben had a sneer on his face, but when he surveyed the scene, he looked surprised. "Did I miss anything?"

Rook had an annoyed look, but he brushed it off. "Nothing much."

"Oh, good." Ben said, as if he hadn't really cared. Once he saw that Rook was getting more annoyed, he just laughed. "Alright, alright. I'll call HQ."

* * *

When back up had arrived, they seemed to be amazed by the scene. The two subdued criminals both lied in different positions, but both in pain. One had been shocked into passing out with jolts of pain here and there. The other one, however, was in a worse state. He was half buried in the dirt ground, limp as a rage doll. Once one of the Plumbers touched the robber's side, the thug seemed to moan out in agony. After looking a little closer, the back up figured out that his arm muscles had been ripped.

To 'fix' things, some Plumbers helped rebuild the stand the best they could and returning everything to the merchant (who had returned to make sure that his possessions were alright). Another group had dragged the criminals into a carrier that would take them to an infirmary. Chess had been offered to be taken there, but she had denied the offer. Since Rook had been worried about her, he had 'borrowed' some cotton wrapping and offered to cover Chess's wounds. She had at first looked like she would deny the help, but she then allowed Rook to wrap her sore paws.

Rook had wished that he had something to clean the wound, but he assumed that Chess would do that herself when she returned to her living quarters. He just mainly wanted to wrap the wounds so they wouldn't get infected. When Rook was finished, Chess could hardly stand up. Not only the had pain gotten to her, but so had the thick wrapping. Rook had then allowed her to lean on him until they got to his truck. Ben had even supported her other side while they walked.

Ben would often shoot Rook a perverted look, but Rook would then give him 'shut up or else' kind of look. When they had gotten Chess to the truck, the sun was beginning to set. Rook had driven Ben home, letting Ben off. Rook had then driven Chess to her home.

To Rook's amazement, Chess lived in something high class. Her apartment building was a little further away then Rook's, but hers was much more fancy and nice. Rook had helped her walk inside, but he had expected her to live in one of the normal apartments. However, she lived much higher. In fact, to Rook's amazement, she had a pent house.

As they walked through the bottom level to get to the elevator, Rook had that same strange feeling as before. He felt kind of sick, but at the same time nervous. Rook hadn't ever felt the sensation, so he wasn't sure how to react to it. As his nervousness had progressed to his stomach flipping, Rook made a decision. Once they had gotten to the elevator, Rook had then said his good-bye. Chess had looked disappointed that he wouldn't come up with her, but she just nodded.

Just when Chess pressed the button that would move the elevator to her pent house, she placed one of her paws on the doors, looking at Rook for a moment. "We should team up more often. You know … missions and stuff."

Rook had looked surprised. Chess at first thought he would've said no to the idea, but he just nodded. "Alright."

Chess gave a purr of delight before she allowed the doors to close. Once she was alone, she leaned up against the elevator railing. Just from asking Rook to do more missions with her, her stomach had felt light and she felt as if her face was heated. She just silently purred with happiness that she would be able to 'team up' with Rook again.

* * *

_Here's the first chapter of Forbidden Love._

_Chess belongs to SilverDorumon (DeviantArt). We're partnering up to make this fan fiction. _

_This is also my entry for her contest. If you're wondering, the contest should still be open. I believe it ends January 31th._

_((I DO NOT OWN BEN 10. CHESS BELONGS TO SilverDorumon (DeviantArt). I OWN THIS FAN FICTION AND THE IDEAS I PUT INTO IT SO THIS IS COPYRIGHT REDWOLFPRODUCTIONS.))_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 -

"Are we done yet?" Ben moaned, throwing his head onto the back of the seat.

Rook just sighed. "I would assume so."

"Thank God!" Ben cried.

From the expression on Rook's face, he wasn't sure exactly what Ben had said, but he didn't bother with asking any questions. Normally, asking a question would lead to more, most of which Ben wouldn't answer or would just give a remark that made Rook even more confused. Rook found it best just to not ask questions unless absolutely necessary.

Ben and Rook were both in Rook's truck, with Rook driving back to HQ. Along that way, Rook had stopped by Ben's and dropped Ben off. Ben's job may have been finished for the day, but Rook had given his word that he would return to HQ that day, checking to see if there was any extra work to be done.

Once Rook had gotten to HQ, and asked Max if there was anything to be done, Max had just shook his head and said that everything that needed to be done was currently being taken care of. Rook had been both relieved and sadened. Truthfully, he had wanted to do something just to pass time, but at the same time he felt tired and worn down. Perhaps he could pass time by going back to his apartment and taking a nap. Rook had planned to do so as he walked through the parking lot to get to his truck, but a familiar voice had stopped him.

"Rook!" someone had called from the distance.

Instinctivly, Rook had turned around to see who or what was calling his name. At first, he hadn't realized who it was, but then he remembered. He gave the cat-girl a warm smile. "Hello, Chess."

Chess gave a small purr in response. "Where you off to?"

Rook just shrugged. "Home."

Ches looked puzzled. "Didn't you get a mission?"

"There are none to be done." Rook explained.

Thinking for a moment, Chess smiled. "I was given a mission. We should partner up!"

"Partner up?" Rook pondered.

"Yeah." Chess said, looking away from nervousness. "Remember yesterday?"

Rook thought for a moment, and then smiled shyly, feeling foolish for forgetting. "Oh, yes. We made a deal to go on a mission together."

Chess flicked one of her ears, looking at Rook's tired expression. "If you don't want to come, you don't have to, dude."

Rook just smiled, shaking away the tiredness. "No. I have nothing better to do, anyway. Where are we going?"

"Junk yard." Chess answered.

"Oh."

* * *

The drive to the junk yard hadn't taken long, but it gave enough time for Chess to explain what the mission was. Apparently, there had been strange reports. Some workers had seen unknown creatures digging through all the trash. They had made a special call to the Plumbers to see if they could figure out what it was, deciding if it was a threat or not. In other words, Chess and Rook had to walk around in a junk yard and see if they would be able to spot anything 'out of the ordinary'.

At first, all they did was walk around in endless circles in silence. Not once did they see or hear anything unusual. Rook and Chess were both beginning to think that the mission was just a waste of time. However, the mission did bring good things. With all the free time they had on their hands, they were able to talk.

When they first started talking, all they talked about was about how Rook was likeing earth. Rook had explained the good things about earth, like the seasons and the ecosystem, and the bad things, like how crime was always loose. Chess had agreed to that statement. She explained to Rook how she was rasied on earth, so it was all she really knew, but she could always point out the flaws in not just earth, but also in humans themselves.

As an example, Chess explained how humans would fall in love too fast and would often have more than one mate in their life time.

"But isn't it natural to have more than one suiter?" Rook had asked.

Chess had nodded. "Yes, but suiters are completely different than mates. Humans will often fall in love with a suiter and become mates with them, having their own litters. Later, they might leave their mate to find another one."

"Leaving the litters behind?" Rook had asked, horrified.

"That depends." Chess answered truthfully. "Some humans will visit their children every now and again, but others will cut their young out of their lives completely."

After a while of the two talking about humans, they got onto the topic of themselves. Chess had explained that since she was from Feruendo, she was born as a Feranthrol. She had also explained how her kind could have different colorings, such as earth cats did. However, unlike earth cats, once they were born with a certain coloring, they would have the same for the rest of their life.

Chess's coloring was snowy white, which was considered rare for her kind. When she was born, she had also had a small amount of black on her face where her whiskers were, and a black tuff on her head. Over time, her tuff had grown longer, giving her jet black hair.

"But you said that your pelt couldn't change as you get older." Rook pointed out.

"Hm?" Chess hummed. "Yes, I did."

"But you have black markings. You said you were born with white fur." Rook explained.

Chess was taken aback, realizing he was talking about her cursed Pyroglyphs. True, she hadn't been born with them. Then again, she had aquired them at a young age. Hesistating for a moment, Chess looked off into another direction, but she turned back to Rook. "Yes. I was born with white fur."

Rook looked extremely confused.

Chess took in a deep breath. "These markings were made on me when I was a child. My fur had grown over it, turning those specific spots black."

Rook had just nodded. "I understand."

'If only you did.' Chess thought, sadly.

Chess flipped her hair away from her one yellow eye. Her dark hair loosely hung over her dark red eye, hiding it from Rook, and just about everyone else.

* * *

After about two hours of searching the junk yard and finding nothing, both were tired and worn out, especially Rook. So, when Chess had hesitantly asked him a question, Rook was too tired and confused to think straight.

"What?" Rook had asked, needing to hear it a second time.

Chess shuffled her feet, shyly. She held her hands behind her back and looked towards the ground. Asking the question the first time had been hard enough, but she took in a deep breath to ask again, this time more loudly. "Do you want to go out some time?"

Rook had just stared back blankly. 'Go out'? What did that mean? Rook had thought the term must have meant that he would go some place with Chess. Another mission? Although Rook was worn out and felt like he was about to pass out, he had truly enjoyed the time that he and Chess had spent together. Going on another mission wouldn't be so bad. Still, the term 'go out' still bugged him.

In response, Rook had just nodded. "Alright."

Chess lit up like a Christmas tree. "Really? A-alright! How about Friday night? I'm free."

Rook was then confused. Had she already picked a mission on Friday? Suddenly, Rook thought that she wasn't talking about a mission. However, since he had already agreed to 'go out', then he would keep his word and not ask about what 'going out' was. He just smiled back. "Friday sounds good."

There was an awkward silence, as if Chess had wanted to say something else, or was waiting for Rook to say something. Thinking for a moment, Rook realized what she had been waiting for.

"So ... what time do you want me to pick you up to 'go out'?"

Chess grinned shyly, blushing. "Seven sounds fine."

"Alright." Rook agreed.

"Sounds like a date." Chess purred.

* * *

Rook was now in his apartment, pacing the floor. He would just about kill himself trying to figure out what 'go out' meant. He thought about everything that the term could mean. Mission? No. That wasn't likely if Chess had picked the time and date herself. Go some place together? That was more likely. Still, Rook wouldn't help but wanting to know what the true definition of 'go out' was. Or the term 'date'.

Realizing that his brain storming wasn't working, Rook sighed, deciding to give up for the day. In the morning, perhaps he would find Ben and ask him for help. Ben wasn't the brightest fellow, but he did know earth expressions. Perhaps he would know what this 'go out' and 'date' meant.

* * *

Ben sat at one of the outside tables next to the Mr. Smoothie. Like normal, Ben had agreed to meet Rook next to the Mr. Smoothie before they left for HQ. Strange enough, Rook had been late. This made Ben slightly concerned, considering that Rook was hardly ever late. However, his small worries were casted aside once Rook pulled up beside the curb of the Mr. Smoothie in his truck.

Once Rook got out of his truck, he walked towards Ben, but his mind seemed to be some place else. Silently taking seat next to Ben, Rook seemed to be thinking of something. Putting one elbow on the table and leaning his chin on his hand, Rook used his free hand to tap the table. This didn't seem like Rook at all.

Ben gave Rook a strange look. "Dude, what's up?"

Rook gave Ben a strange look.

Taking in an impatient breath, Ben rephrased his question. "What is bothering you?"

Understanding, Rook sighed. "Nothing really, just something I can't seem to figure out."

"Is it something technical or some earth talk you can't understand?"

"Earth talk I can't understand." Rook answered.

Leaning back in his chair, Ben grinned. "I could try to help."

Rook glanced up at his partner. True, Ben could help. Taking in a deep breath, Rook began. "I can't seem to figure out this one phrase. Chess asked me a question and I agreed, but I guess it was foolish of me to do so, since I have no idea what she really asked."

"What did she ask?" Ben asked, taking a sip of his smoothie.

"She asked if I wanted to 'go out' with her on a 'date' sometime."

Suddenly, Ben sat up and spit a fountain of smoothie. None of it hit Rook, but he leaned away from the table, giving Ben room, along with a worried expression. Ben continued to spit, but stopped to act serious for a moment. "Chess, right?"

"Yes." Rook answered.

After Rook answered, Ben began to spit up some more. Rook wasn't sure if he was to be worried or annoyed. Finally, Ben had finished and wiped his mouth. He gave Rook a serious look. "You agreed to this, yet you have no idea what 'going out' or a 'date' is?"

"Should I have not agreed?" Rook asked, worried.

Ben then turned from serious to entertained. He began to laugh loudly, leaning back in his chair. "Alright, Rook, tell me what you think going out and a date is."

Rook thought for a moment. "I would assume that 'going out' means going some place. A 'date' is a certain time and day."

"Not even close." Ben chuckled.

"Well, tell me!" Rook cried, becoming annoyed and impatient.

"Okay, okay." Ben laughed. He placed his hands behind his head, closing his eyes before he explained. "Alright, so, 'going out' is basically the same as a 'date'. It is when two people that 'like' each other go some place together, but in a 'special' way."

Rook gave Ben a strange look. "You mean like a mission?"

"NO!" Ben cried. How could he make this more simple for Rook? "I don't mean in a serious and working way, I mean in a romantical way."

Rook froze. Romantical? He had liked Chess, but not ... well ... Rook seemed to blush from his own thinking. From this, Ben began to laugh some more.

"Dude, you totally like her!" Ben laughed out.

"Well, I do. I mean, why wouldn't I? She's a good friend and everything." Rook muttered.

"No, when I say 'like', I mean 'like-like'." Ben chuckled.

"Just because you add an extra 'like' does not mean I understand." Rook growled.

"Alright, let me 'dumb this down'." Ben said, sitting back up. "How do you feel around Chess? I mean like symptons."

Rook thought for a moment, but decided to not sugar coat it. He would come straight out. "Strange. I'm not sure what it is. I tried looking it up in my earth history book, but I found nothing about it. For some odd reason, I become extremely nervous, like my insides are twisting, although I know that feeling nervous is no reason for my internal parts to be knoting together."

Ben snickered. "Yeah, you're crushing on Chess."

Rook suddenly looked worried. "I do not wish to hurt her."

"No, that isn't what a crush is." Ben said, drinking the last of his smoothie. "I mean, you like her in a special way. You ... have an 'attraction' towards her."

Realizing what Ben meant, Rook just flushed. Once Ben started laughing again, Rook stood up and began walking towards his truck, head bent. "I'll meet you in the truck ..."

* * *

Now that Rook thought about it, he had developed 'special' feelings for the young she-cat. Considering that she 'asked him out' seemed to prove that she had developed similar feelings. However, the only thing that Ben hadn't explained to Rook was how a 'date' worked. What were they to do? Rook didn't even know where they were going to go.

For a second, Rook thought that he should give an excuse to Chess, telling her why he couldn't go out with her on Friday, but he thought better of it. He was a proud and honorable person, he couldn't just simply flake on Chess. Not only would her trust towards Rook fade, but Rook would just about die from guilt. Flaking would only hurt both of them, so Rook decided that going out on one date wouldn't kill him.

* * *

Thoughout the rest of that week, Rook had met Chess in random places here and there at HQ. They would often wave to each other, blushing, but hardly ever talked. Both seemed too nervous to start a conversation for their soon-to-come-date. Once in while, when both were in a conference room with Ben, the green eyed teen would shoot Rook smirks. All Rook could do was return the looks.

At one point, Ben had even made things more awkward than they alread were. When there had been a room of Plumbers, Ben had coughed outloud. "Awkward."

At that very moment, Rook and Chess had been talking to each other, having a real conversation for the first time since going on a mission together. Although all they were talking about was something related to work, they had both blushed and looked away from Ben's guester. Other Plumbers in the room that had heard the remark snickered and sent glances towards Rook and Chess.

Rook would later be angry by his partner's outburst, but until then, all he would think about was the date. He had no clue what to do, and he was afraid to ask Ben, considering it had been so hard just describing what a date was. However, he hadn't needed to ask Ben. This time, Ben had come up to Rook and scattered him details.

"So, where you taking her?" Ben had asked, catching up to Rook in one of the halls.

"What?"

"Where are you taking Chess when you go on your date?"

Rook hadn't thought about that. He had guessed that Chess had a certain place picked out.

From Rook's reaction, Ben chuckled. "Don't worry, I was just joking around. Everyone knows that she has some place picked out. Some people tried getting the location out of her, but she said it was just between you and her. I think I just proved that only she knows where it is. Sad. I was hoping to stake you two out, making sure no funny business happens."

Rook gave Ben a strange glance. "Funny business?"

Ben laughed some more. "I was just kidding. I am curious where your date is, though."

"Would you stop saying that?" Rook said, becoming annoyed.

"What?"

"That word."

"Which word?" Ben questioned.

"'Date'. Stop saying that word."

"But I thought you liked her." Ben pointed out.

"I ... do!" Rook cried. "Just ... this is just ONE date. That's it."

"Whatever." Ben snickered. "That's what you say now, but after this 'one date', you'll want to have another. Then another. And so on."

Rook had just rolled his eyes and walked off into a different direction. Ben had stopped walking and watched his partner leave in annoyance and slight anger.

"What?" Ben cried after Rook.

* * *

_Enjoy! The next chapter will have a lot of new stuff in it, so this one is just a warm up._

_((I DO NOT OWN BEN 10. CHESS BELONGS TO SilverDorumon. I OWN THIS FAN FICTION AND THE IDEAS I PUT INTO IT SO THIS IS COPYRIGHT REDWOLFPRODUCTIONS.))_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 -

Rook now sat in the dark (a few moments left until midnight), in a long, wooden boat, and sitting next to Chess. After all, it was Friday. The day that he was meant to go on this 'date'. Truthfully, he had been worried for nothing. As Chess scooted closer to Rook, placing her head on his shoulder, Rook thought about everything that had happened to get him to where he currently was.

The beginning of that day, the Friday that Rook and Chess were meant to go on a date, was started off like any other working day. Both Plumbers checked in and did their work that they were given. Rook had wanted to talk to Chess at one point, but his work had kept him away from his friend. The same seemed to go for her, as well. At one point, when Rook and Ben were to patrol the streets, Rook had caught Chess and asked if she had wanted to join. Sadly, she was too busy with her own work to join the two males. For some reason, Ben had been relieved by this.

Later that day, when Rook and Ben had checked out, Rook had been able to catch Chess as she was checking out herself, as well. For a few moments, they had laughed together, talking about matters that happened at work. For some unknown reason to Rook, he seemed to be able to open up more to her than any other person he knew. He could talk about things with Ben, but never open up his real feelings and thoughts like he could with Chess.

During the conversation, Rook had brought up the subject of their date. Saying so made him lightly blush, but also made Chess shyly blush back. To Rook's disappointment, Chess had simply told him that it was a surprise. Rook had become discouraged by this, but had just smiled warmly and trusted her judgment. At the mere sight of Rook's smile, Chess had blushed a darker shade of red, purring.

After that, Rook had gone back to his apartment, trying to decide what he would do about their date. He had always been under pressure during combat or working hours, but he had never felt as much anxiety as he had when he got home that day. Although Rook had told himself to stay calm to try not to make a big deal out of it, he had paced in circles without really meaning to. Was he to take the matter lightly or put serious thought into it? Either way, Rook had left his apartment just before seven o'clock to pick up Chess.

Once he had picked her up, he hadn't been expecting for her to look differently. Instead of wearing her normal attire of blue and yellow shorts with a blue jacket and shirt, she wore a pair of dark, baggy jeans and a light grey t-shirt. Once she entered the passenger side, Rook felt a little awkward being in his Proto-Tech suit.

However, once Chess had layed eyes on him, she had given a bright smile. "I hope you're prepared to drive a bit."

Indeed, they had driven quiet a bit further. In fact, they drove straight out of Bellwood. As they had drove, Chess would tell Rook to turn here and there. Along the ride, he had wanted to ask Chess where they were going and why it was so far, but he hadn't bothered in asking her, seeing that she wanted it to be a surprise.

After about twenty minutes of driving, she had brought Rook to a small village. Rook had heard of small villages a little ways away from Bellwood, but he had never visited or explored one before. The one that Chess brought him to was small, but very festive and colorful. There were bright and warm colors at every turn, mostly vibrant oranges and electric yellows.

Children with bright colored chalks drew all over the stone ground, but there would also be many who jumped rope or played games. Rook had spotted a small group of girls sitting in a line next to a fountain braiding their long locks of hair.

However, to Rook's amazement, there was wonderful music playing in the background. After a while of listening, Rook soon figured out that the music was a small group playing home-made instruments. There was one man playing a fiddle, another playing a banjo, and another playing a flute. Soon, the children had stopped drawing to listen to the beautiful music. Rook, too, was amazed by the music being played.

To Rook's surprise, Chess had laughed and ran over to the children. At first, they seemed surprised by the appearance of the feral alien, but they seemed to smile back, recognizing who she was. The children had gathered themselves together and ran over to Chess. Chess had then given Rook a side glance before encouraging the children to dance along to the music. They had gone along with Chess without hesitation.

However, Chess hadn't been finished. After getting the children to dance, she had wondered off to the side lines, grabbing a villager by the hands and pulling him into the dance circle. The man had smiled while shaking his head, but Chess was very persuasive. Soon, many people had joined in and were dancing. All Rook could do was stand and watch in wonder. However, he hadn't stood long before Chess had ran over and grabbed him by the hands, too.

It hadn't taken much longer before what seemed like a hundred people gathered, dancing together. Rook hadn't known how to dance, but Chess seemed as inexperienced as he was. The dances that they did were mostly just clumsy movements, but Rook didn't seem nervous. In fact, he had seemed to be more joyed than worried.

Later, they had gone around the small village, greeting the people and playing with the children. The villagers had seemed to know Chess fairly well. They had been a little disturbed by Rook, but once they had seen that he was a friend of Chess, they had greeted him with open arms and warm smiles. However, the real fun had happened later, once the sun had vanished from the sky, leaving it dark outside. The village was brightly lit by the village's lights that were hung all around the streets.

Chess had led Rook to the docks, where she had showed him the long, wooden boat. Rook had been confused at first, but just went along with whatever Chess was coming at. Once they had rowed a little ways away from the shore, they had stopped to just float. Rook had asked Chess what they were doing then, but Chess had just laughed, telling him that they were waiting for the lights.

Now, coming back to reality, Rook looked off into the distance at the brightly lit village. For some reason, he found great comfort in Chess leaning her head on his shoulder. She had smelt like the cherry pastries that they had been eating. When Chess gave a small purr, Rook had returned it with one of his own purrs. Chess had then snuggled against Rook, waiting for the lights to come.

Rook hadn't known what the lights exactly were, but his questions were answered once the first lantern was lit, casted into the dark sky. Once the first one had flown high into the air, hundreds after hundreds were released. Rook was left in awe by the glorious sight. Lantern after lantern peppered the night sky. Many flew close to the water's edge, near the boat they sat in. When a few flew close to Rook and Chess, they both leaned over the edge of the boat, picking up a lantern. Both held their own lantern before glancing at each other. Together, they both released their lanterns into the air.

Chess and Rook sat back down. Placing her head back on Rook's shoulder, they watched as the two lanterns they released flew high into the air together, as a pair.

Feeling as if it were the right moment, Rook reached over and wrapped his arm around Chess's shoulders, hugging her tighter to himself. Chess purred deeper as she nuzzled against him, watching the lights.

* * *

"Soooooo." Ben said loudly in the truck, breaking the silence. "How'd your date go?"

Rook pretended not to care too much. "Alright."

That was a white lie. Rook had thought that his date with Chess was wonderful, but he didn't want to seem too into it in front of Ben. However, Ben wasn't finished with taunting his partner.

"So ... you kiss her?" Ben said with a perverted smile.

Suddenly, Rook sharply hit the break at a stop light, jolting him and Ben forward. Thankfully, they were both wearing their seat belts. Rook's face blushed bright red. "Why do you care?"

Ben recovered from the shock and looked at his partner's face. Once he saw the coloring, he began to laugh. "Did you?"

Rook just looked at the road as the light turned green again. "No."

Ben stared at Rook skeptically, but decided that his partner was telling the truth. He backed off, shurgging. "Whatever."

* * *

The weekend had gone by care free. Rook had longed to see Chess again, but they both had stayed away from each other for Saturday and Sunday.

It was later, on Monday, that they had seen each other again. When they did see each other, it was in a break room, where Rook was looking for some paper work and Chess was having a coffee. For a while they had stayed in the break room, just talking. Chess would explain something that had happened, making a joke out of it. Normally, Rook had a hard time understanding earth jokes, but Chess had explained it so simply that Rook understood every word.

So, when Ben entered the break room, he was surprised to see Rook laughing along with Chess. Rook had never laughed like he had then. It was a mixture of a small laugh mixed in with some nervousness. The good kind. Ben knew what was happening, but he also knew that he had to break it up.

Walking over to Rook, Ben pretended like Chess wasn't there. "Hey, Rook. Grandpa Max wants me to check out a stand in the Undertown. You coming?"

Rook tore his gaze away from Chess and looked sadly back at his partner. "Chess and I were going to practice sparring."

"Oh." Ben mused. It wasn't like Rook to put his partner second. "Um ... alright."

Rook looked like he had wanted to say something else, but Ben had already walked towards the exit. He didn't want to stay around longer and make things more awkward than they already were.

* * *

When Ben returned to HQ, he was steamed. Sure, he didn't need any back up for the small fight that broke out, but something inside Ben seemed to snap. Ben wasn't angry about how Rook wasn't there for back-up, he was mad at the fact that he had blown Ben off for Chess.

Ben had wanted to walk right up to Rook and scream at him, but he soon realized that he wasn't so much angry at Rook as much as Chess. Ben hadn't really liked her when he first met her, for some odd reason, but he wasn't going to take his anger towards Chess out on Rook. Then again, he wasn't about to yell at Chess, either. So, Ben decided to just keep his anger hidden. For the moment being, anyway.

After that, two more days had gone by, and not once had he and Rook done anything together. No patrolling or missions. Part of Ben told him that Grandpa Max just didn't have anything for them to do, but another part of Ben told him that Rook and Chess were just getting closer. Now that Ben thought about it, whenever he did see Rook, Chess was right at his side. This irritated Ben greatly.

However, even if Ben did feel left out, he didn't say so. He didn't want to look like the jelous type. After all, he wasn't jelous ... was he? No. How could he be jelous of Chess? This was just a phase ... right? Right.

One day, though, Ben was tipped over the edge.

Rook was alone, looking for something or someone, when he saw Ben, smiling. "Ben!"

Ben smiled, looking pleased. It was about time. "Yeah, Rook?"

Rook approached Ben, still smiling. "Chess and I were given a mission."

Ben froze. What? Had he heard right? CHESS and Rook? But ... HOW!? Rook was Ben's partner, so it would only figure that if Rook was given a mission, it would be with Ben and not ... SOME GIRL! Ben felt his hidden anger rising again.

"What?" Ben muttered.

"Chess and I are about to go on a mission in the Undertown. I wanted to know if you wanted to come along." Rook explained.

Ben? The 'tag along'? Not likely. If anyone was tagging along, it was Chess. Ben just took in a deep breath, trying to stay calm. "No thanks. YOU have fun on a mission with CHESS and I'll just stay HERE."

Rook looked worried at Ben's words, not fully understanding. "Um ... alright. I just thought ... okay. I guess I will see you later, then."

Ben just crossed his arms and looked away, looking very unhappy. Rook had wanted to say something to fix whatever he had done to make his partner like this, but he wasn't sure where to begin. So, he just sighed heavily and walked away.

* * *

Things had been like that for a while.

Rook and Chess would go on secret missions together every now and again. Rook would feel bad, so he would ask Ben if he had wanted to come, but Ben would just give Rook the cold shoulder.

As that days passed, Rook became more and more confused. Whenever Ben would ignore him, Rook felt isolated. Just being near the green eyed teen made Rook feel down, depressed. However, whenever he was around Chess, he felt happy. He felt as if no one understood him like Chess did. Deep down, Rook knew that it wasn't true, but no else made him feel this way like Chess had. Rook wasn't sure what to call it, but he didn't care too much.

Rook also knew that perhaps he was being selfish with Chess, being with her and not Ben, but what was he to do about Ben? Rook wasn't even sure what he had done to make Ben so angry, or if it was Rook's fault at all.

One day, when Chess and Rook were hanging out after work hours in Chess's pent house, Chess had noticed her friend's distress.

"Rook, what's up?" Chess had asked.

"Hm?" Rook hummed, not really listening.

"What's bothering you?" Chess asked.

Rook looked at Chess, not sure how to answer. For a moment, he had thought about keeping his confusion to himself, but when he looked into her bright yellow eye, he knew he could trust her.

He sighed painfully. "Ben is shutting me out."

Chess flicked her ears in confusion. "Why?"

"I'm not sure." Rook answered. "I offer to take him on missions with us, but he always finds an excuse to not come. Did I do something wrong? He seems angry at me."

Chess looked down, thinking for a moment. She sighed, looking back up at Rook. "Rook, I think that Ben just doesn't like me very much."

"What? Why?" Rook cried. "You are wonderful, how could he NOT like you?"

Chess lightly blushed at the comment, but kept a straight face. "Sometimes, when a person's friend gets a new friend, they tend to get ... discouraged."

Chess had avioded the word 'jelous'. She didn't know for sure if Ben was jelous of her, but she was fully aware of how much he disliked her.

"I ... don't think I'm following you." Rook mused.

Chess sighed, again. "Ben just misses how things used to be is all. Like ... when you two would go on missions. Alone. As partners. I don't think he's used to you going on missions with another person. Plus, if he isn't too fond of me, then he wouldn't want to come along on missions with me tagging along."

"Oh." Rook mumbled, understanding. "I understand."

* * *

Now, Rook had a plan.

Deciding he had to fix whatever was broken between his and Ben's friendship, Rook had approached Ben once he was alone. Like usual, Ben had just given Rook and glance, nothing more.

"Ben. I was given a mission -"

"With Chess?" Ben finished. "Yeah. I get it. I'm busy. You go ahead."

Rook looked struck, as if he had been hit. He just continued along, not giving up. "No. I was given a mission in Undertown. I was told to bring someone along with me. Are you sure you wouldn't like to come?"

Ben looked surprised. "What about Chess?"

Rook just grinned. "I'm not sure what she is doing, but I thought that my partner would like to come on a mission."

At the word 'partner', Ben grinned, lightening up. "Hm ... I took a brain check. I'm free."

"Excellent!" Rook marveled.

The mission they had done wasn't anything special or fun. They had just driven around in Rook's truck, making sure that everything was calm on the streets of Bellwood. Sure enough, everything was perfectly normal. As normal was the city of Bellwood could get. So, there was nothing really to do. However, Ben seemed perfectly fine with the fact that he was on a 'mission' with his partner without Chess around.

Rook had wanted to ask his partner why he diliked Chess so much, but he held his tounge. He didn't want to set Ben off again just by mentioning Chess. So, Rook had kept quiet on the matter for the entire ride.

The next day, however, wasn't as avoidable.

* * *

_Sorry this chapter is short. I was pressed on time and had a lot of stuff to do this week. The next chapter will be better and longer._

_Oh, just BTW, Rook and Chess's date was based around the kid's movie Tangled. Just cause it's cute! _

_((I DO NOT OWN BEN 10. CHESS BELONGS TO SilverDorumon. I OWN THIS FAN FICTION AND THE IDEAS I PUT INTO IT SO THIS IS COPYRIGHT REDWOLFPRODUCTIONS.))_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 -

Although Ben had greatly enjoyed the fact that he and Rook had gone on a mission together for once in what seemed like forever, he was still a little ticked. Not so much at Rook, but at his 'girlfriend' Chess. How could they be 'in a relationship' when they hadn't even kissed? That made no sense to Ben. Then again, Rook and Chess weren't 'officially' together, although other Plumbers thought differently.

That day, though, Ben tipped over the edge.

Maybe it was the fact that the weather was crappy, or that he had sucked horribly at sparing, but either way he was in a horrible mood. He had just wanted to finish another day of work and then just go home, which meant he didn't want to see Chess. He wasn't sure what it was he didn't like about her, but he just wasn't in the mood to 'deal' with her. So, when Chess had confronted him, Ben was ticked.

Ben hadn't really been listening at first. In fact, he had been just trying to tune her out. What had she asked him? Something about sparing ...? No. She had asked something about Rook.

Rook this, Rook that! Enough!

Ben had wanted to snap then, but he decided to take his words out calmly. He thought about his words before he said them, but yet they somehow came out without him meaning to. He hadn't meant to bring up the subject, but it had just happened.

The one word that buzzed in Ben's mind as he replied: Rayona.

"You and Rook are good friends?" Ben spat.

Chess didn't seem to notice Ben's sour mood as she looked down, blushing. "Yeah. I guess we're -"

"So," Ben cut her off. "Has he told you about Rayona? His GIRLFRIEND?"

Chess flinched back, looking at Ben in surprise. "His g-girlfriend? I didn't know ... Oh. Rayona?"

"Yeah. They're pretty serious. I'm surprised that Rook hasn't told you." Ben snarled as he walked off.

Ouch. Ben admitted that was cold, even for him. He knew that Rook and Rayona hadn't been dating anymore, but he hadn't been thinking straight when he told Chess about Rayona. Ben had thought about it for a moment, but decided not to worry about it too much. If Rook and Chess were good friends, Rook would explain everything to Chess. Or, more likely, Chess wouldn't think too much about it. The matter would simply just blow off.

Right?

* * *

Chess wasn't sure how to handle the situation. For a long time, she had thought that she and Rook shared something special. She had 'like' liked him. Very much. After the date they shared, she thought that Rook shared the same feelings, but she guessed he didn't.

Suddenly, Chess became angry. She didn't know who this Rayona chick was, but Chess felt pity for her. Pity for the fact that her 'boyfriend' would be flirting and going on dates with another girl. Was Chess jealous of Rayona? No. Rook, on the other hand, she was furious at. Chess had never taken Rook as the 'player' type.

Chess then sighed as she walked alone. This was basically the story of her life. She had lead herself to believe that she liked a nice guy, but he turned out to be a complete tool. However, this time was different. Normally, a guy that she had a crush on would just simply figure out who she really was. He would see Chess's cursed nature, and would basically leave town. That was the main reason why Chess moved around so much.

Besides the pent house that she had in Bellwood, she had a cabin by the lake, a small house in the woods, and random warehouses here and there. Her pent house was the only really nice place she had. It wasn't as cozy, but it reminded her that there were those that cared for her. She wouldn't have had much of anything if there weren't those who secretly looked out for her. Max Tennyson being one of them.

Max Tennyson. The kind soul that had taken her in when she needed it most. He was the one person she could truly fell safe with and be understood. So, whenever a man had lead her on and broken her down, Max had comforted her with strong, open arms.

However, as time seemed to pass, and Chess would continue to have her heart broken, she had become more distant from her protector. Truthfully, she knew that she wasn't a little girl anymore. She was becoming a woman. A woman that could take care of herself. So, now a days, when a man had hurt Chess (or something had happened to turn others against her), she wouldn't run crying to Max, anymore. She would just turn her back, put on a fake smile, and pretend like she wasn't deeply hurt.

If things had gotten bad enough to the point where rumors were started and Chess was just another outcast again, she would move back to one of her other homes. Being alone again was both good and bad for her. She got time away from those who mentally hurt her, but she was also far away from those she loved. Being isolated wasn't the best feeling, but by now, she had begun to get used to it.

When Chess had moved back into Bellwood, before she met Rook, Max had talked to Chess about her distance from civilization. She had played it off coolly, as if she wasn't bothered by it at all, but she knew that deep down she was still hurting. Max had told Chess that it was time to stop running, but Chess had to make that decision for herself. After all, she was a big girl now.

Now, all Chess wanted to do was be alone.

* * *

Rook felt an emptiness. It seemed as if both his partner and Chess were ignoring him then. Rook didn't know what he had done to make them so distant. Rook was used to being isolated every now and again, but when both his friends were avoiding him, he felt as if he had done something horrible. He didn't know why, but he felt as if he was to be punished. He felt guilty, although he had no idea what he was to be guilty about.

Although both his friends were avoiding him, Rook noticed that each had their own reasons of doing so.

Ben seemed to be staying away from Rook because he looked guilty, too. His eyes would dart here and there, and when Rook would come close, Ben would simply just rush out of the room, as if he knew that he had done something wrong.

Chess, on the other hand, seemed to avoiding Rook out of sadness and anger. Of what, Rook didn't know. He had thought about approaching her, but he feared that he really had done something wrong. If he didn't know what he had done wrong, then he didn't know where to even begin in making amends.

However, later that day, when Rook found Chess, he decided that it was time to approach her.

"Chess?"

Chess then flinched, as if she hadn't expected for him to suddenly sneak up on her. She just turned her head away. "Yeah?"

"I am not sure why, but I feel as if you are angry at me. Is this true?" Rook asked.

"I don't know." Chess said ruefully. "Why don't you ask your GIRLFRIEND?"

Suddenly becoming confused, Rook crossed his arms. "What?"

"You know," Chess said irritated and saddened. "I thought you were a nice guy, Rook."

"I am not?" Rook puzzled.

Chess took in a deep breath, trying not to loose her cool. "Rook ... just ... just leave me alone. Don't call me. Don't talk to me. Don't even LOOK at me."

"What?" Rook cried out. "But ... but why?"

Eyes watering, Chess just crossed her arms, looked down to the floor, and walked past Rook. She sniffled a little, but kept her cool. She was hoping that she could just walk away from Rook and never be bothered again. After all, that was how every other guy she met was. They saw she was impossible, and then moved on to another girl. However, things this time were different.

A firm hand was placed on Chess's shoulder. She froze, continuing to look to the ground. The soft hand moved from her shoulder down her arm, making Chess unfold her arms. Once his hand had moved down to Chess's, Rook lightly held it in his own and pulled her around to look at him.

"Chess ..." Rook hummed. "Tell me."

Chess just gave a small sniffle, not giving in. "What is there to tell? This is so typical. I meet someone that seems nice and cares about me, but that is where I go wrong. There is always something. Or someone. How could you, Rook ..."

"What -" Rook began.

"Why would you lead me on, like you like me, but never tell me that you have a girlfriend?"

No longer was there guilt in Rook's eyes, but confusion. He moved his free hand to Chess's, holding both her hands in his own. "Chess, as you would say, I am 'single'."

Chess's eyes widened. "But ... Rayona ..."

"Was just a suitor." Rook explained. "She is no longer a suitor, considering that a 'long distance relationship' would have never worked for either of us. I preferred to travel. She preferred to stay on Revonnah. It would have never worked out."

Rook then noticed her watering eyes as a single tear rolled down her cheek, disappearing into her fur. Rook lifted one of his hands up, wiping his thumb across her cheek. Feeling herself give in, Chess wrapped her arms around Rook's side and buried her face in his chest. As a few more tears ran down her cheeks, Rook wrapped his arms around Chess, hugging her tightly to himself.

Chess was suddenly bitten by remorse. Although there was the possibility that Rook was lying, Chess suddenly realized that if she could trust anyone, it was Rook.

"Rook? I'm so sorry ... I ..." she muttered.

Rook just held her tighter and leaned his head on top of hers. "It is alright."

Chess's tears had stopped running down he face, but she continued to hug tightly to Rook. His strong, warm arms gave her great comfort, protecting her. They both stayed in each other's embrace for what seemed like forever. In such a case, Chess wouldn't have minded staying in his arms forever.

* * *

The rest of the day had gone by perfectly. Chess and Rook had stayed together for the entire time, pretending like the argument had never happened. They both worked together on some work that was needed to be done. Rook hadn't known where Ben was, but his best guess was that his partner was somewhere in Bellwood or Undertown, patrolling.

However, the real fun began when the day ended. Just like Rook had thought, Ben had been in Undertown. When he returned, he had great news for Rook.

"Rook! Guess what?" Ben said excitedly.

"What?" Rook asked.

"We got a mission. A real one. We need to 'guard' a statue in Undertown."

"A ... statue?" Rook mused.

Ben smiled. "Yeah. But there is something hidden inside it. Some kind of gem or something. Some guy might try to steal it tonight, so we need to guard it and make sure that nothing bad happens to it."

"Oh. Excellent." Rook said, now liking the idea. "When?"

"Now."

* * *

Rook had parked his truck outside the entrance to the Undertown, locking everything. Rook would have preferred to be with Chess that night, considering they had made it a habit to stay up late watching TV or just messing around, but Rook knew what he had to do. He and Ben were given a mission, so they had to commit to it.

Indeed, as Ben had said, they were going to guard a statue. Rook was skeptical about there being a gem inside it, but he didn't question Ben or the owner of the statue. So, during the first half of the night, Rook and Ben had 'guarded' the statue. Both had brought food and water, to keep them full and hydrated.

Rook had been surprised by the fact that Ben hadn't fallen asleep, yet. Although, he was starting to look a little tired. Both had their backs leaned up against the statue, watching to make sure that no one tried to steal it. Seemed legit.

However, about half way through the night, things had gotten complicated.

Both seemed to be dozing off when Rook's Plumber's badge went off. Both seemed to lurch forward, being startled by the sudden noise. Rook quickly activated it and held it to his ear.

"Rook Blonko."

"Rook!" a familiar voice cried from the other end.

Rook paused. "Chess?"

From the sound of the feline's name, Ben sighed, irritated.

"Rook, you know those bandits I've been tracking for about a week now? Dude, I actually FOUND them. This is the one night a month that they gather in some ware house. I need back-up, and other Plumbers won't be coming until sun rise. I need your help." Chess explained.

Rook looked around the empty streets of Undertown, not sure what to do. After a few moments of silence, Chess poke up.

"Rook, you still there?"

"Yeah." Rook answered.

"Well?" Chess asked, impatient.

After a few seconds of thinking, Rook made up his mind. "I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Alright, but hurry!" Chess said before hanging up.

Rook looked at Ben, who had been watching Rook.

"What was that all about?" Ben asked.

"Chess needs back-up." Rook told his partner.

"So?" Ben huffed. "Why can't another Plumber help her?"

"Other back-up won't be there until sunrise."

Ben just crossed his arms, looking away with irritation. After a few moments, he sighed. "Fine. Just go. I've got things here."

Rook smiled, nodding. As he left, he stopped, turning to his partner. "I'll back as soon as I can."

"Whatever." Ben mumbled to himself.

* * *

As time went by, Ben had become more tired. He would often nod off, but would catch himself before falling asleep. However, at one point, he hadn't been able to catch himself as he fell back asleep. He had leaned his back on the statue, sliding down to the ground and falling into a light sleep.

However, that hadn't lasted long before a slight noise woke him up.

Looking up, in a daze, Ben tried to make out what the noise had been. It was high pitched, as if someone or something had skid across the ground. Quickly getting to his feet, Ben shook away the last of his sleepiness. Scanning the area, Ben tried to see what could have made the noise. After a few moments, Ben decided that the noise was nothing important. He even considered going back to sleep.

The same noise came again. This time Ben had seen it. Becoming fully awake, Ben stood his ground. They knew that Ben had seen them, so they didn't bother with being stealthy anymore. The first dark, slender figure that was hiding in the darkness sprung forward.

The first to attackers were a few of the strange creatures. They looked like something very flexible and slender, making them move with grace. In fact, they all seemed to be clones.

Acting quickly, Ben slipped the omnitrix and turned into Four-Arms. Although the creatures looked skinny and sleek, they had unbelievable strength. One of the creatures rammed straight into Ben, making him slide back against the hard pavement. Ben ignored his scraped feet, pushing back on the creature that had rammed into him. However, before he could do a counter attack, a few more of the creatures had launched themselves at him, holding back his arms.

Ben struggled to get out of their grasp, but for once in a long time, he felt helpless as the strong, agile creatures held all four of his arms behind his back. Just as they did so, the first to have attacked threw he hard punch at Ben's abdomen. The impact was harder then Ben had expected. He cringed at the blow, still trying to get out of their grasp.

A huge noise caught Ben's attention. Turning his head, he saw that the rest of the creatures had knocked over the statue, instantly breaking it. Ben gasped, acting quickly. When one of the creatures had loosened their grip on one of his arms, Ben pulled it away, throwing the creature to the side. With his one free arm, he ripped one of the black monsters away from his side.

Although Ben had thrown the creature to the ground with all his might, it seemed to have been made of rubber, bouncing back up to it's feet. The figure and stance of the creatures reminded Ben of Slender Man in some ways. However, these creatures seemed to be a combination of strength, speed, and durability. Their limbs were able to stretch, reminding Ben of Ester.

Suddenly, one of the creatures rushed up behind Ben, knocking him to the ground, landing flat on his back. The attackers backed off, running away to the side. When Ben rolled to his side, trying to get to his feet, he saw that the ones that had knocked over the statue had pulled something out from the inside.

Just as Ben had thought, there was a brightly colored gem on the inside. When one of them had pulled it out, Ben was caught in awe. The brilliantly colored gem was a glowing a hue of blue and green. It was oddly shaped, but that didn't matter so much.

Snapping out of it, Ben got back to his feet, but was too late. The sleek creatures had stolen the gem and high tailed it out of there, leaving a confused and stunned Ben. Just as he stood in a daze, the warning sound of the omnitrix timing out filled the silent air. Just as Ben turned back into his human form, he felt weak, falling to the ground. He clutched his hand over his stomach, feeling the sudden pain. Whatever those creatures were, they could punch. Hard.

Slowly regaining his strength, Ben stood back up, still clutching his stomach. "What the -"

Ben had to take everything in. He was standing alone in the dark, the statue had been broken, the gem had been stolen by some black, slender creatures, and Rook was no where to be seen. Ben's stomach hurt, but not as badly as his arm. Looking at the side of his arm, he saw dark red blood gushing out the side.

At first, Ben was confused. He hadn't remembered any of the creatures attacking his arm. Sure, they had roughly held Ben back, but his arm's wound was in two, long slashes, as if the creatures had claws that ripped through his flesh. When Ben looked closer, he saw that he was bleeding much more than he thought. Thick, red blood oozed down the side of his arm.

Ben hadn't seen any claws on the creatures, but it was so dark in Undertown and everything had happened so fast that Ben hadn't had time to truly study the creatures that attacked. Now that Ben thought about it, the creatures that had held him back did have a tight grip, digging what felt like sharp claws into his skin.

The one that Ben threw to the side had tried to hold tighter to avoid being flung to the ground, which made it rake it's claws along Ben's arm. Even if it had just skimmed it's claw-like hands along Ben's arm without meaning to, it had made a deep gash on the side.

Feeling dizzy, Ben had fell to his side. His vision became blurry, and for once he didn't want to give into sleep out of fear.

* * *

Rook hadn't gotten back until mid morning the next day. Well, he didn't come back to Undertown. Instead of going to the Undertown or HQ, looking for Ben, he had been contacted on his Plumber's badge. Out of confusion, Rook had answered, but nearly dropped his badge out of shock.

Ben was in the hospital.

Rook had been picked up by Max Tennyson, who drove his RV. Once Rook had seated next to Max, they had driven straight to the hospital. Although they could've gotten a major ticket for speeding and wreak less driving, they didn't care.

Once they got to the hospital, Max had taken up two parking spaces as both him and Rook launched themselves out of the door. When they entered the lobby, the lady at the front desk had given them a strange look, but once Max had explained to her they were to see Ben, she had a nurse lead them to the room Ben was in.

As the nurse lead them hastily through the halls of the hospital, she had explained that some strange looking aliens had brought him into the street and had just left him there. They seemed afraid of humans, so they didn't bother in taking Ben to the hospital themselves. However, once people saw Ben passed out in the middle of a street, they had called an ambulance. So, that was how Ben had gotten to the hospital.

However, the reason was all the more strange. Ben had been passed out due to blood loss and had a deep wound on the side of his arm. It had taken some time to stop the tremendous bleeding, but they had done so, letting the boy get some rest. When he had finally woken up that morning, nurses had given him water and food to regain some of his lost strength.

"How is he doing now?" Max asked.

"He is fine. Responding to commands, standing up. and walking around. He should be fine. We made sure to tell him to take it easy for the day." the nurse filled them in.

Rook breathed a sigh of relief to hear that his partner was alright.

Once the nurse had gotten to the end of a hall, she opened a door, letting the two inside. Once they walked inside, she shut the door lightly behind them.

Ben was sitting on the white bed, picking at his arm's wrappings. The clean wrappings were tainted with small stains of blood here and there. When his grandfather and partner walking into the room, he had hardly noticed. He was wrapped up in picking at his strings, he hadn't heard the two walk in. However, as Grandpa Max walked towards him, Ben looked up. Rook was there too, but Ben seemed to looking through him, only wanting to see his grandfather.

"Ben. What happened? Are you alright?" Max asked in a hurry.

Ben just nodded. "I'm fine."

Turning his attention back to his wrapping, Ben continued. "I was attacked last night."

"By what?" Max asked.

Ben shrugged, still not really caring. "Some kind of creatures. There were lots of them. All were pitch black and skinny. They moved fast, but were really strong. I went all Four-Arms on them, but hitting them doesn't really seem to effect them. They basically just bounce back like they're made of rubber."

"Hm ..." Max hummed, thinking. "Those may have been a pack of Eves."

"Eves? Some kind of aliens?" Rook asked.

"No one knows for sure. They travel in large packs and only strike at night. They are thought to be invincible and have razor claws. Their only known weakness is sun light. They prefer isolation from human populations."

"So, why would they attack Ben?" Rook asked.

Ben sighed, looking at Rook with irritation. "They wanted that gem I was guarding."

Max rubbed his chin. "Now, why would they want something like that?"

"Who cares? They're gone now." Ben muttered.

Max pulled out a watch, sighing. "I have to go. You coming Rook?"

"I'll find a different way back." Rook said.

Max just nodded. "Alright."

Max turned and left the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

There was a long pause before Ben spoke. "Where were you?"

"I was with Chess." Rook answered.

"No. I mean, where were you when I needed you?" Ben growled. "I nearly bled to death in Undertown, and you were playing side-kick with your wanna be girlfriend."

Rook looked away. "She isn't my girlfriend."

"Exactly!" Ben cried, standing up. "You like this chick, but she is too emotional and too distracting to actually call herself your girlfriend. I mean, you haven't even kissed her, have you?"

Rook took a step back, startled. "Ben I am sorry. I am sorry that I wasn't there to give you back-up. But this has nothing to do with Chess."

"It has EVERYTHING to do with Chess!" Ben yelled. "Ever since she came to Bellwood, you have been doing nothing but drooling over her. Chess this, Chess that. I'm sick of it!"

"Why do you even CARE?" Rook snarled.

"I don't!"

"Well, you obviously do!" Rook yelled back.

"I DON'T!" Ben repeated. "I'm just pissed at the fact that you're too busy getting love drunk to notice your duties! Since when did you choose a girl over your job? It's like I don't even know you."

Rook pinned back his ears and dilated his eyes like a cat's. "Well, perhaps you DON'T know me, Ben Tennyson."

"Yeah, I guess I don't." Ben muttered back. "At least Rayona would've had more sense to not pull you out of a mission."

Ben instantly flinched back, wishing he could take back his words. He just hoped that Rook didn't get the hint right off the bat. Sadly for Ben, Rook had completely understood.

Rook seemed to breathe in a sharp hiss. "That was YOU? YOU told Chess about Rayona?"

Ben put on a sour look. "That doesn't even matter. Don't try turning the tables on me!"

"There are no tables around here, but there IS a liar." Rook growled.

"I didn't lie!" Ben cried out. "I just told her that you used to have a girlfriend named Rayona -"

"NO." Rook corrected. "YOU told HER a lie. Rayona never was my 'girlfriend'."

Ben was now enraged. "Go play on a free-way, Rook!"

"No. That would just be stupid. I would have to be a half-brained idiot to do so. But you would be perfect for doing so!" Rook snarled.

With that, Rook gave a low growl before leaving the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

* * *

_Sorry this one is a day late. I had major writer's block._

_The Eve creature belongs to me._  
_Reference Sheet ~ [link]_

_((I DO NOT OWN BEN 10. CHESS BELONGS TO SilverDorumon. I OWN THIS FAN FICTION AND THE IDEAS I PUT INTO IT SO THIS IS COPYRIGHT REDWOLFPRODUCTIONS.))_


	5. Chapter 5

**WARNING: This chapter contains violence/gore.**

Chapter 5 -

Chess hadn't seen Rook all that day. She had wondered what was bothering him, but she soon found out that Ben was in the hospital. She, too, was worried, but other Plumbers had told her that news had gone out that Ben would be just fine. Chess had guessed that Rook was at the hospital with his partner. Perhaps they were making up.

Yes. Chess had heard about that, too. She had heard that the two had gotten into a heated fight. Although she hadn't figured out what the fight was about, she did know that Rook and Ben were both pissed at each other. If Rook was ANYTHING, it was a good partner. Even if the fight had been over something stupid, or Ben just being Ben, then Rook would apologize. Even if he had nothing to apologize for.

Being alone in one of the chambers, Chess smiled to herself, remembering the night before. It had been magical. Although she and Rook hadn't caught the bandits, they had lied on one of the building roofs, watching the stars and just talking. Both had been lying on some tarps that had been left out. Although they were tarps, they were layered, making it comfortable.

Both had laughed and shared stories. Although the night was cold, neither seemed effected by it. Rook had hardly ever gotten cold, but he couldn't stand intense heats. Chess seemed the same. And, even thought they weren't the slightest bit cold, they had nuzzled against each other, as if they were freezing. Both seemed to know that the other wasn't cold, but they just went along with it.

At some point, they had realized that the bandits were a no show. Although Rook had told Chess that he should return to Ben, he hadn't left. They both were too tired to even get up from where they were lying. So, nuzzled against each other, they had fallen asleep.

Chess had been the first to wake up that morning, but Rook had woken up not too long after. Both were greeted by pigeons on the building's roof. Deciding they didn't want to get crapped on, they had stretched their limbs out and left. That was when they had parted ways, Rook going to the hospital and Chess going to HQ.

Chess felt herself freeze, realizing something. Not too long ago she had wanted to disappear. She had wanted to move back away and not show up for another few months, but being with Rook, she had completely changed her mind. She felt as if she could stay in Bellwood forever and never be truly hurt. She had always ran away from Bellwood out of her own self-conscious fears, but now it was different. She had wanted to stay. She had wanted to stay with Rook.

Although there had been suitors in the past, none made Chess feel this way except for Rook. He made her laugh when she felt down and he was able to show her the bright side of things, even when her day was horrible. Chess hadn't felt closer to anyone else.

Well, mainly because she was able to open up more around Rook. She was able to be just ... herself. There was no pressure to be perfect, because she found that Rook liked her no matter what. He had found her flaws cute, as she did with his.

However, little did Chess know that Rook was in a stiff mood that day.

Later that day, Chess had found Rook in the HQ. Joyfully, Chess had walked up to Rook.

"Hey, Rook!" Chess had purred.

Rook had slowly turned around, looking both confused and irritated. When he stared at Chess's face, his bad mood seemed to disappear. However, Chess had seen his expression before he lightened up.

"What's wrong?" Chess asked.

Rook just shrugged, not wanting to talk about the situation.

Chess flicked her ears. "It is about Ben?"

Rook flinched, as if he had been struck, but he just sighed. "Yes."

"What was the fight about?" Chess asked, slightly tilting her head.

Rook couldn't resist 'the look'. Chess often did this. She would tilt her head in that cute way and look at him in her usual cute manner. This made Rook's chest feel tight, like he couldn't breathe, but he smiled back nevertheless.

"We just had a disagreement was all." Rook muttered.

Chess had known that wasn't the real reason, but she didn't want to force Rook into telling her. Perhaps he would tell her when he was ready.

* * *

The next day, Chess had seen Ben. She had slightly gasped at the sight.

Although it was only his arm that was injured, it was purple and puffy. There was white wrapping around it. There were large stains on the wrapping, as if the wound would continue to bleed every now and again. Chess had guessed that the cut was infected.

She didn't know how right she was.

As it turned out, even though the doctors had completely cleaned out the open wound, there was still a substance inside. No one knew what it was, but it was indeed nasty. Not only would his scarlet blood continue to bleed out every now and again, but so would what looked to be black slime.

Chess had heard of Eves before. Although she had never seen or heard one, she knew how dangerous they were. People had always told tales of how Eves were as fast as lightning and had the strength of ten men. Chess had turned her nose to this. How bad could they possibly be? After all, Chess was faster than lightning and had the strength of twenty men. She could easily take on a few. They did travel in packs, right? Well, there had to be four or five at most in one pack.

Plus, they were cowards. If they were SO afraid of humans, then imagine how freaked out they would be by the mere sight of Chess.

Chess knew that such thoughts were cocky, but that was one of the best things about Chess. She was cocky enough to believe that she could take on anyone at any time. EXPECIALLY this things called 'Eves'.

It was just those cocky thoughts that would get Chess killed.

* * *

"Soooo ..." Chess said, looking away, feeling awkward. "How did ... what did those ... Eves take?"

Ben stood staring at Chess. His stare was a mixture of confusion and hatred. "A gem. But why do you care?"

Chess then became irritated. "I was just wondering why the great Ben Tennyson isn't doing something about these Eves."

Ben snorted rudely. "What IS there to do? They took the gem. Game over. The only way to get it back is to find them in the forest. Plus, you can only find them at night since they are too chicken to come out during the day."

"They aren't the only ones that are chicken." Chess muttered.

"WHAT?" Ben growled.

"If YOU won't do something about it. Then I guess I'll have to." Chess snorted.

"Sure." Ben chuckled. "Knock yourself out. See what I care."

* * *

"'Knock yourself out!'" Chess said in a mocking voice as she walked towards the edge of the forest.

The sun had just begun to set and Chess had wanted to get stared on her search for the pack of Eves. She knew that sighting an Eve was rare, so finding a whole pack in one night was a long shot, but she had to try.

Chess sighed. She knew that what she had said to Ben wasn't going to fix things, but by finding the gem and kicking some Eve ass, she might be able to gain some of Ben's trust and possibly get Ben and Rook to make up. It wasn't the best plan, but it was all Chess had at the moment. Maybe when she brought back the gem, Ben would stop acting like a tool.

Rubbing the back of her neck, Chess thought that perhaps that she would also have to apologize to Ben. Perhaps she had also over done it. Again.

Later, after a while of walking, it had gotten much more dark. Any human would have been completely blind in the dark forest, but with Chess's cat-like vision, she was able to see perfectly fine in the dark. Every little thing that moved caught her attention. Any sound would make her ears flick left and right. She was fully prepared for a pack of Eves, or so she thought.

* * *

It was past hours. Rook was ready to leave, but he was waiting until he had finished fixing a drive. He hadn't known that Ben was still at HQ, too. Normally, Ben would leave HQ as soon as he was tired. But for some reason, Ben had stayed.

Once Rook had finished fixing the drive, he had left the chamber he was in and began to head towards the parking dock, where his truck was. Just then, he saw Ben. That awkward moment when his partner sees him, but looks too weak and tired to avoid him, let along give him a dirty look.

Suddenly, Rook felt worried. The whole side of Ben's arm was purple and black. The wrapping was completely soiled and looked as though Ben had been picking at it. Black slime leaked down the side of his arm, but there was part of a ripped shirt that was wrapped around his arm. The shirt looked as though it had once been blue, but it was now stained black.

Something was wrong. Really wrong.

Rook had even considered giving Ben as ride home, but Ben had just turned his back on Rook, heading towards his own car. Rook doubted that Ben would be able to drive home, but he didn't bother with bringing it up. However, just before Ben got into his car, he stopped, turning to Rook.

"Um ... hey, Rook?"

Rook, surprised, turned to Ben. "Yes?"

"If ... if, I don't know, if someone was to go after a pack of Eves on their own at night, would that be ... bad?"

"Well, yes." Rook answered. "Stupid, in fact. There wouldn't be much of a change of survival of doing so. Why do you ask?"

Ben flinched, as if he were a child that had been hit for doing something bad.

"N-no reason." Ben stuttered, getting into his car.

Rook watched with a confused expression as Ben drove away in a hurry.

* * *

Chess didn't have much of a plan, so she just made up one on the spot.

Kick some Eve ass, get the gem, get it back to Ben, and see how things went from there.

That was her main plan.

However, things hadn't gone her way. They never really did.

Out of the corner of her eye, Chess saw some movement. Spinning around, Chess prepared herself for an attack. Her muscles tensed and her eyes dilated into slits.

Once a small chipmunk scurried across the forest ground, Chess allowed herself to relax, releasing a breath. This was going to take forever!

Perhaps she should just leave ...

SCREEE!

The blood-chilling scream made Chess freeze. Never before had she heard such a cry. She spun in the direction she thought that she heard it, but even with her natural night vision, she couldn't see anything.

SCCCRRREEEE!

There it was, again. This time louder, and more aggressive.

Then, it came again.

And again.

There were many of these creatures, and they were all hiding in the dark, surrounding Chess.

Chess's heart pounded in her chest, her fur standing on end. She gave a weak hiss, trying to warn off the attackers, or to possibly get them to show themselves, but they continued to surround Chess. Now, seeing that she was afraid, they began to circle her. By the sound of it, they walked on two feet, but would occasionally stalk on all fours.

Their claws. They had claws. They would click them as they circled their prey. In this case, Chess. At first, Chess thought this was how they communicated, but she soon found out that they communicated by making high pitched screams at one another.

Although Chess couldn't see their figures, she could now see their eyes. Their bright, glowing eyes. Most of them had dark, red eyes that chilled Chess to the bone, but a few had one red eye along with an electric blue eye. If Chess hadn't been fearing for her life, then she would have been wondering what made their eyes so different.

The more the Eves clicked their claws, the more Chess became confused and afraid. That was when she got it. They were TRYING to do this. They were testing her. Seeing how dangerous, or how weak she was. She wasn't weak. She wasn't going to let them confuse her.

Letting out a mighty roar, Chess lunged forward towards a part of the circle. They instantly broke apart and began to give high pitched screams. Once they broke apart, they instantly formed back into a circle, keeping a safe distance from Chess. They didn't seem afraid of her, but they didn't seem too willing to attack, either.

Again, Chess would give a roar as she lunged out. And, again, the Eves would continue to cry out as they broke apart and reformed the circle.

Chess and the Eves continued this for a what seemed like almost an hour. Chess was becoming tired, and the Eves knew it. Becoming scared, Chess realized that this was what the Eves wanted. They were waiting. They were waiting for her to become weaker and weaker until they were able to launch an attack. This was how they hunted their prey.

Deciding to ditch the idea of finding the gem, Chess decided on high tailing it out of the forest. Taking another lunge towards the Eves, she didn't stop like before. She continued to rush forward. She had thought that she was past the Eves as she ran with super speed, but she had underestimated the Eves.

Suddenly, a whip-like limb had shot out and caught Chess at the legs. She instantly feel, hitting the ground. Hard. She face planted into the ground and began to tumble on the forest ground. However, once she stopped rolling, she shot back up, prepared for an attack.

Aiming for the nearest figure, Chess shot out with amazing strength and speed, crashing into the creature. She and the figure both fell to the ground. She was on top of it, so she was thought she would be able to hold it down while she attacked at the head or neck, but she had, yet again, underestimated the Eve's abilities.

Like some kind of snake, the Eve she had tackled to the ground had slithered right out from under her. As it did so, one of it's rubber-like limbs coiled around Chess's waist. Before Chess could realize what was happening, she was being flung into the air. Then limb uncoiled, spinning Chess in midair. In a daze, she was unable to catch herself as he face planted into the ground.

Hard.

Although she was still in a daze, Chess tried to get back to her feet, but wasn't quick enough as another Eve threw a claw-like hand at her side. A stabbing pain made Chess release a howl of agony. That was when she had had enough.

Flinging herself to her feet, Chess threw a fisted hand between two, glowing eyes. To her great pleasure, the head burst in a frenzy of slime. However, the joy hadn't lasted long. Slime that had fell to the ground or that had stuck to her hand slid back onto the limb body. The sight almost made Chess loose her lunch.

Once the slime-like material returned to it's original form, two red eyes appeared through the head. As if to mock Chess, a shark-like grin grew out of the slime.

Another had grabbed Chess by her tail, yanking her back. She instantly fell flat back onto the ground. She was about to stand back up when another Eve had grabbed one of her limbs and flung her to the side with unbelievable strength. At this point, they were just playing with their food. And now that Chess took everything in, there were MUCH more Eves in one pack than she thought. There had to be more than a dozen. And they were all closing in.

Just as the Eves began to make high pitched cries to each other, deciding how to kill their prey, there came a rustling from the bushes. Although Chess could hardy believe the sight, she witnessed a dirty and disorientated Ben stumbling through the bushes of the clearing. From the sight, the Eves instantly turned away from Chess and redirected their attention towards Ben. A few hissed to each other.

At the sight of the Eves, Ben looked both angered and frightened. His arm was mangled and bruised. It was covered in soiled bandages and leaked the same substance that the Eves were made of. It was also the same arm that held the Omnitrix. The arm was so damaged, Ben wasn't able to even move it, let alone feel it. So, Ben used his other hand to reach over to his Omnitrix and turn into an alien.

As he twitched it, turning into Shocksquatch, Ben looked as if he were in pain, but he just bit his bottom lip, waiting for the transformation to be complete. Once he had fully changed, he looked ready to fight. His arm looked a little better, but was still pretty nasty.

Using his alien's powers, Shocksquatch used his good arm to shoot a ray of electricity towards the Eves. Many just dodged out of the way, but the ones that did get hit, just formed back together.

Doing what they did to Chess, the Eves began to slowly swarm around Ben, clicking their claws, seeming to abandon Chess.

Feeling light headed, Chess looked down to her side, where an Eve had cut her. She shuttered at the sight of red, thick blood oozing down her side, staining her white fur. Then she felt it. That same feeling that she would feel before she changed. Her vision began to blur and she began to violently shake.

She could no longer hear the clicking or the shocking sounds coming from the clearing. All she could hear was buzzing and the thunderous pounding of her own heart beat.

Falling to the ground, Chess took in shuttered breaths before she felt her own bones being reshaped. It was then that she lost all consciousness.

The only thing she could remember were cries and screams of pain. Horrible, horrible, screams.

However, beyond the screams of pain and agony, came the vision of a warm and loving face. The same face that she had longed to hold and kiss.

"Rook?" she had whispered before completely blacking out.

* * *

_You'll see Eves in a lot of my fan fictions. They work pretty well as enemies or as alliances. Plus, their blood (or 'slime') has multiple purposes. If you haven't figured this out, I own Eves._

_Oh, and just for people to know, the female Eves are the ones with one blue eye, while the males have all red eyes. Just in case you got confused there._

_The next chapter will explain what happened to Chess._

_After this, there are a few more chapters to go._

_((I DO NOT OWN BEN 10. CHESS BELONGS TO SilverDorumon. I OWN THIS FAN FICTION AND THE IDEAS I PUT INTO IT SO THIS IS COPYRIGHT REDWOLFPRODUCTIONS.))_


	6. Chapter 6

**WARNING: This chapter contains nudity and violence/gore.**

Chapter 6 -

When Chess awoke, she was surprised to see that she was lying with her back on a cot, looking up at a truck's ceiling. Her body was limp and warm, but she wasn't in any pain and was able to feel. She turned her head to see Rook in a seat next to the cot she lied in. He was hunched over, as if he was extremely tired. One of his hands was on top of Chess's.

Right on Rook's other side was another cot. Taking a closer look, Chess could see that Ben was sleeping on the cot. His arm that had once seemed to be nothing but a dead weight, was now wrapped in a clean wrapping. The swelling had gone down almost completely and was no longer purple or black, but more an irritated pink. His breaths were shuttered, but not unnatural.

Now that Chess thought about it, her breathing was a bit strange, but not difficult. When she glanced at her own body, she saw that there was wrapping around her torso, where she had been cut by an Eve. Other than this, she was completely covered in a white cloth. When she felt around, she found that she was completely naked. Chess slightly blushed at being exposed, but guessed it wasn't so bad considering that her whole torso was covered in a white wrapping.

Looking back over at her hand, Chess gave a small purr to see that Rook's hand was in hers. Resting her head on the pillow, Chess gave Rook's hand a slight squeeze. From the squeeze, Rook's eyes snapped open as he lifted his head to look at Chess.

At his gaze and touch, Chess slightly blushed and looked away. "I over did it again, didn't I?"

Chess expected Rook to pull away in disgust or to let her heal before leaving. Chess didn't blame him. If she had seen her friend in such a state of destruction, she would have had a similar reaction, but this time around, things were different.

Smiling, Rook squeezed her hand back, whispering. "Just a little."

The sight of Rook's warm smile made Chess smile back. She then gazed off, feeling confused. "You mean you ... aren't creped out, or anything like that?"

Rook became puzzled. "Why would I be 'creped out'?"

Chess glanced back up at Rook, who then realized what she was talking about.

Holding Chess's hand lightly in his, Rook just gave a weak smile. "I am a Plumber, Chess. Not only have I seen similar things, but I'm prepared for anything."

"R-really?" Chess said in amazement.

Nodding, Rook bent down and pressed his forehead to Chess's. Both gave affectionate purrs.

Chess was ecstatic. She hadn't wanted Rook find out like this, but she was joyfully nevertheless. Rook was the first guy that she met that didn't judge her for her cursed form. Still, she wanted to talk about it.

"Rook, I ..." she began, but stopped when she saw Rook slightly lean away and then come back, but this time, not to nuzzle Chess.

Before their lips touched, Chess drew in a sharp breath.

Rook's lips were softer than Chess had expected. His touch was gentle and loving, but still left Chess out of breath. At first, all the kiss was their lips rubbing lightly against each other, and that was as far as they could get before Rook suddenly pulled away from there being a shuffling on Ben's cot. Although the kiss had only lasted a few seconds, it had felt like an eternity for the two.

Although Chess's heart was already out of tune, she felt as if it were beating out of her chest. Even when Rook pulled away, she could still taste his sweet lips. He wasn't too rough of a kisser, but at the same time he wasn't a noobie kisser. Chess would have never guessed that it was his first kiss.

Turning his chair around to Ben's side of the bed he looked down with a glum expression. As Ben's eyes began to flicker open, he let out a pained moan.

"My arm ..." he groaned.

"Your arm was poisoned down to the tissue. The same went for Chess." Rook said. "Your arm may be sore for a while."

Ben tried sitting up in bed, but he instantly fell back down from his lack of strength. He released another groan as he stared up at the truck's ceiling. "What happened?"

Indeed, Chess had been wondering the same thing. What DID happen? She thought that Ben knew, he being there to witness it, but apparently the poison had an effect on his memory of recent events. And besides being in her cursed form, Chess had also been 'out of it' due to the poison surging through her veins. This made Chess wonder if the poison had made her more dangerous, giving her more drive, or if it had only weakened her.

Only Rook truly knew.

Sighing, Rook tried to remember everything that had happened and everything that he had seen. Some of which he hoped to never see again.

When Rook had first heard the screeches and howls, he wasn't sure what to make of it, but Ben's car WAS parked by the edge of the forest, and his scanners told him that both Ben and Chess were in there. Both his partner and best friend were in the dark, dangerous forest with whatever those creatures were.

Thrashing through the forest, Rook had been trying to find Ben and Chess. Normally he would have followed his scanners, but there was no need. All he needed to do was follow the screams of pain.

However, to much of Rook's surprise, he had been attracted by a bolt of flashing light. It reminded Rook of one of Ben's aliens, Shocksquatch. So, he had followed it. However, he hadn't gotten far until there were many black and slender creatures bursting through the bushes, coming right at Rook. At first, Rook took a defensive stance, but once they whizzed past him, Rook realized that they were fleeing for their lives.

Now sprinting through the brush, Rook had stumbled into what seemed to be a clearing. What he had seen was pure hell.

There were many of those creatures in the clearing, coming in by the dozens. New ones would burst through the clearing to attack an intruder, but just as quick as they came, they would rush through the bushes yet again, but this time in a fleeing matter.

There, in the clearing, was his partner in the form of Shocksquatch. Even in this form, Ben's arm looked mangled, as if it were only a dead weight. In this case, it was. Ben was only able to use one of his arms to use his alien's powers, and he basically just dragged his other arm around like it really was a dead weight.

Nothing about what Rook saw was 'pleasant'.

In the center of the clearing was what looked to be some sort of feral creature. It's jet black markings were twisted here and there, but seemed to cover all it's body. With each attacker pouncing at it, the creature's markings would seem to pulse a bright red, but would flicker back out once it seemed to be in full-out combat mode.

Black, silky wings sprouted from it's back, but the wings were an odd shape. Although Rook doubted that they were aerodynamic, whenever an Eve (as Rook remembered they were called) would get on the creature's nerves and just simply wouldn't back down, the creature would give it's wings a thrust, sending it up into the air for a little while, but doing so gave it enough time to get distance, and even an air attack.

Something about the creature to Rook had seemed so ... familiar.

Slightly turning it's head, Rook could see the one red eye that blared brightly in the darkness. The fur around the eye seemed to have it's own black markings that were in the form of crackles.

It's four paws had long, deadly claws, ready to kill.

In the darkness, Rook couldn't see very well, but with every hit the Eves took, there seemed to be light that illuminated off their bodies. Bright, blue light. With every flash, Rook was able to get a closer look at the creature. And, although Ben tried to fend off the Eves that attacked the creature, they seemed to be uninterested in Ben. Every Eve that broke into the clearing drove their attacks straight at the creature that so easily broke them.

When Ben attacked (or just about anyone else) and hit the Eves, they seemed to just simply bounce back or regrow whatever had been blasted away. However, with the creature in the clearing, it simply would attack in a furry of claws, teeth, and pure strength.

And although not even the feral animal could kill an Eve, the impact left Eve goo all over the clearing. Eves that burst into slime would quickly return to their original form before fleeing the scene.

Just watching the animal tear through Eve by powerful Eve made Rook feel sick to the stomach. Even when a Eve had completely been blown to nothing by slime, the creature would continue to attack, trying to rip apart slime. Seeing the Eves be able to return to their natural state even after something so foul made Rook believe that they truly were indestructible. So why did they flee?

Eves, the great and all powerful creatures that could slay anything in their way, were afraid.

Just when Rook thought he would pass out from the sight, a brave and bold Eve had shot out from behind the creature, sinking it's shark-like teeth and razor claws into one of the creature's wings.

In return, the creature released a loud and pained moan. Swinging one of it's paws at the Eve, it easily knocked the attacker off it's shoulder.

The creature's pure white fur was tainted with dark red blood. It's attacks seemed to slow, becoming tired out from blood loss. There was a deep gash on the creature's side, oozing blood onto the ground and it's fur. It's wing, which now bleed violently, moved unnaturally, as if the poison was already setting in.

The Eve that had ripped apart the creature's wing gathered itself back together before turning and giving it's attacker a hiss, fleeing from the scene. However, the creature wasn't done. It had wanted to make sure that the Eve had suffered. So, the creature then turned and sprinted after the Eve through the thick brush.

Rook stared in disbelief as the remaining Eves followed the cat-like creature through their territory.

At that moment, Shocksquatch returned back into the natural form of Ben. Not being able to even stand, Ben fell back to the ground. Rushing over to his partner, Rook had placed a firm hand on his partner's shoulder.

"Ben? Ben are you alright?" Rook had said, shaking the stunned Ben.

When Ben hadn't responded, Rook became worried. "Ben! Ben, please!"

Ben's eyes had been so clouded, Rook had feared the worst, but his chest still slightly moved up and down. His lips twitched, as if he were wanting to say something, but just couldn't get the words out. With what little strength he had, he breathed out one last word. "Chess ..."

That was when Rook understood.

That creature that had fought the Eves was Chess.

Rook remembered what Max had told him. At one point that week, Max had pulled Rook aside to warn Rook of something. At first, Rook hadn't understood what Max had been trying to say. Something about Chess being sensitive, and fragile. The slightest thing would tip her over the edge.

And this was over the edge.

As Rook had knelt down beside his limp partner, he was suddenly bitten by remorse.

"This is my fault..." Rook had muttered, biting his bottom lip with his long canines. "This is all my fault."

Now that Rook thought about it, this WAS his fault. He had pushed Chess too far, over the edge. He had pushed his own partner away because of his own selfish reasons. And, while Rook had been feeling sorry for himself, his partner and best friend were in a life or death situation.

Yes. This was all his fault.

As Rook stood back up, he looked down with tear filled eyes at his partner. "I'm so sorry." he whispered, half to himself.

All Rook could do at that moment was drag Ben to one of the large trees, leaning his partner on the trunk.

"I'll be back." he promised.

It had taken every fiber in Rook's being to leave his dying partner in the clearing, but he knew that he couldn't leave without Chess.

So, sprinting through the forest, Rook had simply followed the sound of frantic cries and snarls. After a while of running, he had gotten further into the forest, but only to get to the side of a rocky slope.

To Rook's horror, Chess had climbed up the side of the deadly slope, along with the following Eves.

"Chess!" Rook had cried.

From this, Chess seemed to have stopped in her tracks. She turned to Rook for a split second, but went back into rage mode as soon as an Eve had caught up and nearly ticked her.

Snarling, Chess climbed further and further up the rocky ledge.

Rook took in a sharp breath. This was dangerous. One slip, and Chess would go tumbling down the rocks, getting seriously hurt. And he doubted that the wings would aid her, seeing that one was wounded.

Nevertheless, Chess continued to scramble up the slope. As she did so, rocks would fall, a few hitting the Eves. Even in this state, Chess knew that she was in trouble.

Rook wasn't sure what to do, but just when he thought he had a plan, a thunderous noise had made Rook freeze. From the far end of the forest trees began to shake, signaling that something huge and powerful was coming. Rook didn't know what it was, but when it released a blood-chilling scream, Rook thought that he really was going to die.

There was a sudden stillness, then. Chess had stopped climbing and so had the Eves. Everyone seemed to stare off into the direction of where the screech had come from.

Rook's heart had been pounding hard in his chest. He didn't know what it was, but he suddenly thought of what it could be.

"The mama." he seemed to whisper.

He was close enough. Not a mama, but an Alpha.

Just as the words had slipped out of Rook's mouth, the trees by the rocks burst apart, flying bits and pieces of bark all over Rook, knocking him to the ground. Dirt flew in the air as what seemed to be a dark force tore through the trees and ground.

The creature looked just the same as the Eves, but was ten times stronger and three times as huge. It's body seemed to illuminate what seemed to be blue energy. All the Eves had the energy, but the Alpha had much more to the point where you could see it. It's eyes shone a much brighter red than the others, and it's claws seemed to be even longer. And even more deadly.

The other Eves made way for their Alpha to easily climb up the rocks. It seemed to have no trouble making it's way along the slope. However, Chess was already climbing back up the rocks. Her paws were blooded, but Rook wouldn't tell if it was from her other wounds bleeding or from her scraping them against the sharp rocks.

Finally, Chess had gotten to the end of the rock slope. The edge dropped off to the ground, which was feet below. Falling would be deadly, but falling was the least of her worries.

Spinning around to face the Alpha Eve, Chess flapped her black wings. Although one was wounded, she was able to slowly fly off the edge of the slope, but she did so backwards, still facing the approaching Alpha Eve.

Once Chess was feet away from the edge of the slope, the Alpha Eve just kept running until it got to the edge. Giving a toothy grin, it launched itself off the side, making Rook gasp in horror.

However, to Chess, time just seemed to slow. As time slowed down, she processed everything. All paws were outstretched towards the Alpha, and her wings gave one finally thrust as the Eve pinned it's beady eyes on Chess. It's hands out stretched forward, ready to take the final blow.

The sound of Rook's voice was all that Chess could hear, and this gave her great strength. That was when she felt the power surging through her veins once again, as her vision turned a dark red. She couldn't remember how it had happened, and Rook had seen it all too fast, but all that could be seen were bright blue and red sparks. And then, light. Not light that came from either of their bodies, but just plain sunlight that suddenly came out from the horizon.

That was when there were loud and pained screams from the Eves. The blue and red sparks grew greater than ever, but then seemed to die as the sun fully came out.

The pack of Eves slinked back into the forest, seeking protection from the deadly sunlight. However, their beloved Alpha wasn't so lucky, it being in mid air, in the death hold of Chess's claws, and exposed to sunlight.

Blue sparks seemed to blow the Alpha apart, but then it simply slipped through Chess's fingers, melting to the ground. As it did so, Chess had closed her eyes and allowed herself to free fall, changing back into her natural form. Her black wings had morphed back into her body while she changed from all-fours to having her natural shape.

Acting quickly, Rook had rushed to the edge of the slope's ground, where he had been nearly standing next to, and was just in time to catch Chess.

Everything had just happened so quickly. Glancing down at Chess, Rook had to quickly turn away his gaze, his entire face red. He had not taken into account that from changing back, Chess would be completely naked.

From there, Rook had carried Chess back to his truck, but he quickly returned for his partner, even though he wasn't sure if the Eves were still lingering around. He had treated both of their wounds. At first, he wasn't sure what to do, but from some research, he found that the concentrated slime of an Alpha Eve would cure the poisonous wounds. So, as quickly as he could, he gathered as much slime left from the attack and cured his friends.

"Rook?"

Chess's voice had brought Rook back to reality.

Glancing at the two people that he had nearly lost, he sighed.

"What happened?" Ben had repeated.

Rook sighed again, giving a weak smile. "Nothing much."

* * *

_Sorry this chapter is short. I just basically wanted to get some action and details into this chapter. The story picks up from here._

_((I DO NOT OWN BEN 10. CHESS BELONGS TO SilverDorumon. I OWN THIS FAN FICTION AND THE IDEAS I PUT INTO IT SO THIS IS COPYRIGHT REDWOLFPRODUCTIONS.))_


	7. Chapter 7

**WARNING: This chapter contains sexual themes.**

Chapter 7 -

After a while of some more resting, Chess and Ben were feeling better enough to stand up and move around.

As they did so, Rook seemed wary. He had insisted that they both take things easy, to not further hurt themselves.

"You worry too much, Rook." Chess had teased him.

Rook had taken this remark serious, thinking that perhaps he did worry too much, but he quickly shoved away the thought. It was better to be too worried than not worried at all. After all, how could he NOT be worried?

Both his friends were near death and he had limited time to save their lives. He had considered himself lucky. He didn't know how he would cope with loosing BOTH Chess and Ben, and in the same night nevertheless.

After that night, Chess seemed to cling to Rook all the more, but at a distance sometimes, if Ben was around. She had decided that she DID like Rook, but she needed to give him more space for his partner to fill in. Chess didn't blame Ben.

Later, after realizing that she wouldn't have been able to fight back (or be alive nevertheless) without Ben's help, she decided to thank him.

The next day, when they were at HQ, Chess approached Ben.

This time, Ben didn't seem angered or even irritated, but mostly puzzled.

Chess cracked her knuckles as looked to the side, a nervous habit she had fallen into. "So, um ... Ben. About last night."

"Oh." Ben said, remembering. He looked down at his feet. "Yeah. I was meaning to get to you on that. I was coming to stop you, and say I didn't mean it."

Confused, Chess looked at Ben, her ears twitching. "What do you mean 'it'?"

"You know," Ben muttered, obviously not great at apologies. "Those things I said. I guess I haven't been the nicest person to you."

"Ah, don't worry about it." Chess meowed. "I was the one who called you chicken and stuff like that."

Ben sighed painfully. "Yeah, but I really SHOULD be talking to Rook."

"Yeah, what's up with that?" Chess asked while the topic was up. "He didn't seem to want to talk about it with me."

Ben looked up, surprised. "He didn't?"

Shaking her head, Chess sighed. "He basically just told me that 'it was complicated'."

Ben seemed to sniffle a chuckle. "It wasn't THAT complicated. We just got into a little fight was all."

Chess snorted. "It doesn't seem like THAT little of a fight to me."

"Well," Ben said, rubbing the back of his neck. "We kind of got into a fight. About you."

"Oh." Chess said, feeling awkward. She held her hands behind her back and rocked on her heels. "So, um ... what did you guys say?"

Ben, feeling more awkward, faked a cough. "I guess I was getting paranoid about how much time you guys were spending together. I kind of over reacted when he left our mission to help you on yours."

"Oh." Chess repeated, looking off into the distance.

Feeling as if he should leave, Ben turned and waved. "See you later, I guess."

Suddenly remembering what she was here for, Chess caught up with him. "Wait!"

Turning back to Chess, Ben just pretended to act bored. "Yeah? What?"

"I came here to ... you know, thank you. For helping me out and everything." Chess said, feeling as if she just wanted to get it over with.

Ben gave a fake grin. "Don't worry about it."

With that, Ben left Chess, hoping to at some point bump into his partner.

* * *

Indeed, later that day, Ben had found Rook.

Ben pretended as if crossing paths with him was by accident, but the truth was, he really wanted to talk with him.

"Hey." Ben said, feeling awkward.

"Hey." Rook echoed. He, too, felt strange.

"Listen," Ben said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I ... I kind of wanted, to you know ..."

Rook nodded. "I understand."

"You do?"

"Yes. You have come for an apology and I shall give you one." Rook said aloud.

Ben blinked, surprised. "What? No. Well, I mean ... yeah, sure, thanks, but I kind of came here to ... you know. I wanted to say that I didn't mean all that stuff I said, back at the hospital. I would take it all back if I could."

Rook gave a weak smile. "As would I."

There was a long pause before Rook spoke up again. "Um ... is it common for humans to play on free ways? Because if so, then I take back the remark about being half-brained to do so."

All Ben could do in response was laugh.

* * *

Chess sat on her couch, watching Tosh.0 and thinking about Rook.

Chess had sighed, thinking about how she missed him even though she had seen him only a few hours ago.

Stealing a glance at her Plumber's badge, she sighed.

'Don't do it.' Chess had told herself. 'You can last until tomorrow.'

However, Chess knew she couldn't. She needed to see Rook again. She needed to just be with him. To Chess, Rook was like a drug. And she was addicted to it.

Reaching over, she picked up her badge and selected Rook's badge code. Once it traced, Chess had crossed her fingers, waiting to hear Rook's smooth, kind voce.

Once she had traced the code, Rook had instantly picked it up.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Hey, Rook." Chess said in a low voice, trying to sound sexy.

Once the words came out, she thought they sounded strange and stupid. She mentally slapped herself.

"Oh, hey Chess." Rook said, now in a happy mood. "Is there something wrong?"

"Oh, no." Chess answered, fiddling with her black hair, trying to come up with an excuse for him to come over. "Just wanted to see how things are going."

There was a pause.

"Things are going well on this end." he answered, sounding a little suspicious. "How about you?"

Chess sighed a little dramatically, coming clean. "Not so great. I'm bored out of my mind."

"Oh ..." Rook said, feeling awkward. "I'm sorry about that."

Chess gave a small snort. "You're sorry? You don't need to apologize for that, Rook."

There was another long pause.

"Well ... is there anything I can do about it?" Rook seemed to mumble.

Chess did a fake sigh, making her voice sound smooth. "It would be a shame for me to be alone in this pent-house with no one to hang out with."

"Hm ... yes indeed it would be a shame."

There was a pause as Chess waited for Rook to continue.

She just sighed. "Rook, just get over here."

* * *

It hadn't taken Rook long to get to Chess's apartment. Truthfully, he had been eager just to see her again. It had been a surprise to Rook when she had contacted him right at the moment he was thinking of her.

So, he had gotten to Chess's pent-house as quickly as he could. Parking his truck in the parking lot, he made his way inside the building and to the elevator.

Once he had gotten to the very top, he was greeted by Chess's neat looking apartment. Chess was lying on her side on the couch and looking at Rook with passion.

"Hey, Rook." she purred warmly.

Rook couldn't help but stare at Chess. She wore her normal attire of blue shorts and a lighter blue shirt, but her jacket was slung over the side of her couch. Seeing her lying on her side on the plush couch made her figure look more slender and mature, making her look tempting. Rook couldn't help from slightly blushing.

"H-hello, Chess." Rook replied.

Chess then sat up on the couch, feeling nervous. "So ..."

"So ..." Rook echoed.

Things had seemed to get more awkward from there, but after some small talk, they had both moved to the couch and watched some TV, then some movies. Most of which Rook had never seen or heard of before.

As they watched more of a second movie, Rook noticed Chess scooting closer to him, leaning her head on his shoulder. Instinctively, Rook wrapped his long arm around her shoulders, leaning his head on hers. From this, Chess gave a warm purr.

After a while, Chess lifted her eyes to look at Rook's face. From staring at him for a while, Rook caught the glare from her eyes and looked down at Chess, smiling warmly.

"Rook?" Chess muttered nervously.

"Yes?" Rook replied, gazing at her with a warm look.

"Do ... do you like me?" Chess whispered.

Rook gave her a confused look. "Of course, Chess. You are my best friend."

Chess sighed. "Yeah, but that wasn't exactly what I meant."

"What did you mean?" Rook said, becoming more confused.

"Nothing. Forget it." Chess muttered, feeling awkward.

However, Rook couldn't just forget it. Did he like Chess? Well, what kind of question was that? Surely she knew that she was his best friend. Rook began to feel that fluttering feeling in his stomach, again.

Then, Rook remembered something that Ben had told him a while ago. He had said that there was a difference between 'liking' someone and 'like-liking' someone. What kind of 'like' had Chess meant? Rook couldn't be too sure.

Then again, he didn't think that Chess would ask him such a stupid question. Surely she already knew that he liked her. Perhaps she already knew that he like her as ... more than a friend.

"Chess," Rook began. "I can't understand earth culture and sayings, but I DO know that whatever you are talking about has to do with our friendship."

Chess gave an irritated snort. "Yeah. 'Friendship'."

"Yes." Rook said, not getting the hint. "However, I am not sure where our friendship is currently at."

"What?" Chess said, now the confused one.

"I'm not sure if what I'm saying makes sense, but I'm not sure if I am to even call this a 'friendship'. Just because of the fact that I seem to like you more than a friend."

Chess then lit up, purring softly. "Really? You do?"

"Well, yes." Rook said surprised. "I mean ... well ..."

Chess interrupted his stuttering by leaned in and giving Rook a passionate kiss. Rook's lips molded perfectly with Chess's. Rook could taste Chess's mint gum she had been chewing a while ago and could smell her shampooed fur.

On instinct, Rook had slightly parted his lips, and (to his surprise) Chess had slightly parted hers, as well. As his tongue was met by Chess's, Rook felt his own hands beginning to wander. Moving his hands to under the hem of her shirt, Rook pressed his fingers on her smooth stomach.

Chess took a chance and swiftly hugged her thighs around Rook's side. Rook moved his hands away from her stomach and wrapped them around behind her. In one quick move, he hoisted Chess from the couch onto his lap, never breaking the kiss.

Both pulled away from the kiss for a brief moment, to take a well needed breath.

For a moment, they both stared at each other in the eyes. Chess have a warm purr as she leaned in and pressed her cheek against Rook's. This got Rook to release just as friendly of a purr. Nuzzling against Rook, Chess felt as if her whole body was buzzing. Just touching him made her feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Chess moved her head down from Rook's cheek to his neck, where she nuzzled her muzzle against his skin. Both purred loudly from the passion between them. As Chess playfully rubbed her canines against Rook's neck, Rook's hands slipped under Chess's shirt and onto her back. His hands smoothed over her bare back as he playfully nipped at one of her ears.

From feeling his teeth lightly nip at her ear, Chess sniffled a giggle. "This is fun."

Indeed, it was fun. With any other guy, Chess would felt undesirable pressure. All men had ever wanted to do was Chess was make out for extended periods of time, which made Chess feel extremely uncomfortable, and then things would get nasty. Chess had never wanted to go any further than making out, but yet men would pressure her.

Being pressured felt horrible to Chess, as if she was helpless. Where Rook's touch was gentle and loving, other men's touches were forced and greedy. Chess was thankful that she had enough will power to say 'no' and that she was still virgin.

Being with Rook didn't feel like being pressured at all. It felt fun and loving. Chess felt as if she could be wrapped in Rook's arm forever and never feel uncomfortable, but more protected and loved.

As Chess went back to playfully nipping, Rook's neck fur slightly prickled. His species were known for 'marking' another, so that way others would know that they were taken and belonged to someone. By feeling Chess's teeth on his neck, his hands seemed to shake from his instincts. However, Rook had plenty of self-control. He wasn't sure if Chess's kind marked each other or not, but from the way her canines rubbed against his skin, Rook couldn't help from giving affectionate purrs.

Rook willed himself not to, but he gazed down at Chess's unmarked neck. He shuttered slightly, making Chess stop and slightly pull her head away.

"You alright, Rook?" Chess asked, worried.

Slightly gulping, Rook just nodded. "Yes."

Unable to resist, Rook bend his head down beside Chess's neck, nuzzling against it.

Giving a cute mixture of a purr and meow, Chess nuzzled Rook back. As soon as Chess's sharp but gentle teeth rubbed against Rook's skin, he couldn't help but doing the same. His teeth weren't as feral as Chess's, but they were sharp and could leave a mark if he so desired to.

Normally, if Chess had been a Revonnahgander, Rook wouldn't have hesitated to mark her as his own. The fact that he wasn't sure if Chess would find being marked pleasant or undesirable made Rook hesitate from biting hard enough to leave a mark.

As Rook's hands continued to move up and down Chess's back, Chess let out a hum as she wrapped her arms around Rook's waist. She then went from light nipping to using her canines to peck at his neck. Doing so made Rook tingle all the more. He felt as if he couldn't take the teasing any longer, but he controlled his impulses.

Carefully pulling away from her neck, Rook leaned into her ear. "Chess?"

"Hm?" Chess hummed as she stopped nipping, but kept her lips pressed to his skin.

Rook wasn't sure how to ask in a casual way, so he was straight forward. "In my culture, if two beings felt passionate about each other, they would mark each other. I was wondering if I may ...?"

Chess then felt frightened. He didn't mean 'it' did he? Chess wasn't prepared to loose her virginity. Was that what he meant? Chess felt too rushed, but she relaxed as Rook explained more.

"I will not leave a mark if you wish not."

As he said so, he leaned in and pressed his lips against her neck.

Realizing that he meant leaving a bite mark on her neck, Chess purred, relieved. Not wanting to speak anymore, Chess just pulled away and planted a hard kiss on Rook's lips, answering his question.

After a little tease, Chess pulled away and nuzzled against Rook's shoulder. Rook was hesitant at first, but he carefully leaned in and began to lightly nip at Chess's neck, deciding where he wanted to leave his mark. After he thought he found a suitable spot, Rook ran his rough, cat-like tongue along the spot. From doing so, Chess gave a pleasant shutter.

Just before Rook bit down, he gave Chess a warning nip. She seemed tense, but willing to let Rook mark her. Burring her face in Rook's shoulder, Chess waited for the bite to come.

In a quick movement, Rook bit down with his sharp teeth on the side of Chess's neck. The second he did so, Chess released a low gasp. Chess seemed to claw at his back, needing to hold onto something. As she did so, Rook moved his hands down to Chess's waist, holding her firmly to his body.

Once Rook was sure his bite would leave a mark, he pulled away from her neck and looked towards her face, to make sure she was okay. Her face was buried in his shoulder, but her yellow eye pepped up from his shoulder and stared back at Rook warmly. She lifted her head and was met with a slightly blooded kiss, but she didn't care.

Pulling away from the kiss, Rook leaned back to her neck and trailed his tongue along where he had made his mark. The rough tongue on her open wound made Chess shutter, but was pleased by the gesture, so she bent down to Rook's neck and did the same as he had. She slightly nipped at where she thought she wanted to mark.

Before Chess made her mark, Rook took a glance at his work. The mark he had made was in the perfect shape of his fangs and other teeth. A slight trickle of blood was left on her white fur, but it wasn't enough to cause any problems. He leaned his head on Chess's shoulder, waiting for her to mark him, as well.

Just as he did so, Chess sank her needle sharp teeth into his skin. Rook had never been marked before, so he hadn't expected the sudden pain to come. However, even though he released a slight gasp, he didn't move as Chess made her mark. Once she was finished, Chess pulled away and licked her lips.

Chess slightly gasped.

"What is it?" Rook asked, worried.

Chess then tilted her head, confused, yet curious. "Rook ... I didn't know you had purple blood."

Rook slightly blushed, embarrassed. "I guess I didn't think it was important enough to bring the subject up."

Chess just gave a small giggle. "That's awesome, dude."

* * *

They hadn't gotten much further after they marked each other. They had kissed a little more, but nothing serious.

They had stayed up until midnight that night, just talking and laughing together. When they had become tired, Chess had nuzzled up against Rook. Rook had slowly fell onto the couch on his back with Chess lying on top of him. They had fallen asleep like this.

* * *

Chess woke up and yawned. It took her some time to process everything that had happened that night. Once she remembered that she was lying onto of Rook, she slightly blushed.

When she yawned and started to fidget, Rook's eyes slowly opened, squinting at the light that streamed through Chess's giant windows. Chess's head on lying on his chest when he looked towards her. She gazed up at Rook, giving a good morning purr.

Rook chuckled. "Am I a suitable bed?"

"Yes." Chess purred, playfully. "Yes, you are."

Although both were awake, they had lied together like this for a while longer, just enjoying each other while they still could before going to work.

* * *

_Writing this chapter is fun._

_Oh, and just so people know, all my other fan fictions are rated Mature, but I'm going to try and keep this rated Teen, so romance will be kept at an appropriate level. Maybe. I did say the same for my other fan fictions, since they all started out as Teen, but things happened I guess. I really will try with this one, though._

_Maybe ..._

_((I DO NOT OWN BEN 10. CHESS BELONGS TO SilverDorumon. I OWN THIS FAN FICTION AND THE IDEAS I PUT INTO IT SO THIS IS COPYRIGHT REDWOLFPRODUCTIONS.))_


	8. Chapter 8

**WARNING: This chapter contains strong language.**

Chapter 8 -

Both Rook and Chess had gotten to work a tiny bit late. Not by much, though. Just by around ten or twenty minutes. Both just hoped that when they entered HQ no one would have noticed they were gone.

"Look who decided to show up."

Chess and Rook froze. Both slowly turned around to see a smug Ben.

Chess just played dumb. "I have no idea what you're talking about. We were here the whole time."

Although Chess knew that Ben didn't believe a word she just said, Chess grabbed Rook by the hand and walked away with him, not turning back to Ben, knowing he would still be looking smug.

* * *

Chess and Rook had stayed together for most of that day. They would often show affection towards each other by brushing against each other or even holding hands. This had gotten mixed reactions from other Plumbers. They saw the two as a sweet couple, but it was all so very odd. It wasn't uncommon for two aliens of different species to be together, but Chess and Rook together seemed too ... similar.

Both species seemed to somewhat resemble cats, both were Plumbers, and both seemed to always be committed towards work. That part was a bit of a stretch. If they had known what Chess and Rook did at Chess's pent-house, then they would've known that work wasn't JUST what they thought about.

However, at one point, Rook and Chess had parted to work in different stations. While Rook was away from Chess, he had ran into Ben in a hallway.

Ben gave a sly look. "So ... how did 'things' go?"

"Things?" Rook mused. "I don't understand."

Ben chuckled. "One day, you and Chess are feeling sketchy, but the next day, you too are extremely cozy with each other."

"What are you coming at?" Rook said, narrowing his eyes.

Ben's gaze moved to Rook's neck. Once Rook caught this, he slammed his palm on the side of his neck, trying to hide his mark and a blush.

From this, Ben couldn't help from roaring with laughter.

* * *

Work for the rest of that day had been like the usual. Rook and Chess had met up every now and again and exchanged a few words, but other than that, nothing much had happened. Work hours came and went as they would say.

After work, however, was a different story.

Chess had wanted to hang out with Rook, or even better, have him come back over to her apartment, but she had too many things on her mind. It hadn't been too long ago that she had been thinking about previous events. One of them being the night that she fought the Eves. Sure, she knew that night was over and done with, but she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something wrong. Something was out of place.

* * *

Placing the glowing blue and green gem inside a glass case, the hunter gave a satisfied grin. Sure, the Eves had failed him, but they had successfully brought him all four gems, even if the last one had to be pried from the hands of Ben Tennyson.

Ben Tennyson.

Kyper huffed in irritation. How was it that the Eves had nearly ended his life, yet they didn't finish the job? They must have been weaker than Kyper had thought. If HE would've had the change, he would've finished Ben right there on the spot, but that didn't matter now. All that matter was that he had the gems.

However, Kyper couldn't keep the image of the Alpha's death out of his mind. He had been there when it had happened. He had been in the forest, collecting the last gem from the Alpha when half of the pack had left due to a 'disturbance'. At first, the Alpha Eve had occupied Kyper, as if trying to distract him from whatever his pack was trying deal with. However, Kyper couldn't ignore it any longer once the Alpha was forced to protect his pack from the predator who had struck fear into the Eves.

That was when Kyper had seen it. The beautiful creature. The ultimate predator. It had had jet black wings and razor claws that so easily tore through Eve flesh (or if you would even call it 'flesh'). Right there on the spot was when Kyper decided that he would hunt this beast, and take it's DNA, but that was when he found out something shocking, yet amusing.

After the creature had exposed the Eve to pure sunlight, killing it within it's claws, the creature took a different form. Forming back into a bare, cat-like woman, it fell from the sky, but was caught by the arms of none other than Ben Tennyson's partner, Rook. Kyper had watched from the shadows as Rook had carried the female back into the woods, but that was when Kyper had dashed off. He decided to come up with another plan later. He would have that DNA, but he would have to obtain it in another way.

Now staring at the four gems, Kyper could hear clicking coming from behind him, telling him that his dog was walking from behind on the smooth, hard flooring. Once beside it's master, the dog sat on it's rump, staring at the gems, as well. They all shone brightly, having their own coloring, but together, shining as if they were in sync. Soon, they would collide. And soon, all hell would break loose.

* * *

Chess was now in Undertown. She walked down an alley leading down to a store keeper's stand. The same one who owned the statue which had the stolen gem inside. There must have been a reason for it have been stolen. There must have been a reason for someone to want it. And how did this store keeper know that someone was going to steal it on that exact night? Chess needed to know. Questions were eating her alive.

Chess had wanted to come with Rook, knowing that he could help her with interrogating others, but Chess had wanted to come alone since it was faster. Well, that was a lie. She just didn't want Rook to know that she was stressing over something like this. She didn't Rook to worry about her, seeing that Rook thought that Chess was past anything to do with the Eves. If he found out that Chess was stressing over this case, he would completely freak.

Fidgeting, Chess shuttered when a breeze ruffled her white fur. The alley was completely empty, except for the papers that flew in the breeze and the can the Chess was kicking around as she walked. She needed something to do with her feet or hands, something to keep her mind occupied. Finally, she made it to the end of the alley.

At the end of the alley was a small shack. The entrance was dark and musty, with only a blanket and poles as supports for the entrance's roof. Chess felt wary, as if the whole scene screamed that something wasn't right. Nevertheless, she padded inside the small shack.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" she said, her voice echoing in the alley behind her.

Walking inside some more, Chess knew she was walking more into the darkness, but she also knew that she needed to find some answers.

The shack was strange, even creepy. There were trinkets hanging from the walls or the wooden roof. In fact, they were EVERYWHERE. If they weren't hanging from something, swaying in the wind, making tinkling sounds, or just sitting on something, they were on the ground. Chess had to be careful to not step on any of them. Chess also noticed that glass was everywhere, too. Glass would clank against objects, making sounds that were meant to be chimes.

Once Chess stepped on a sharp piece of glass, she shot back, screeching in pain, her back hitting a wall. Instantly, trinkets and other objects fell off from their hangers and fell ontop of Chess. Most of them were covered in thick cobwebs, making Chess shrink back in disgust.

As she shook off dust and wooden or glass trinkets, a dark shadow casted over her, making her neck fur prickle.

"Who's there? Better not be you mice, again." a crackly, old voice said from around the corner.

Chess watched as the shadow went from tall and frightening to small and feeble. After saying the words, the figure turned into a small and hunched over woman. She looked old and worn out from age. She wore old, worn out clothes and a blanket over her shoulders. She wore thin, small glasses. When she saw Chess, she adjusted them and squinted.

After coughing violently, she took some steps closer to Chess. "Who are you?"

"I'm ... I'm Chess." Chess muttered, not sure if she could fully trust this woman. Then again, this lady looked like she was over a hundred years old. She didn't look like a threat.

Holding a cane, she walked closer to Chess, wanting to get a closer look. Seeing that Chess knocked over a dozen of her trinkets, the woman gave a scowl. "Now look what you did, you little ruffian! You come here, into my home, and just make a mess? Who do you think you are? Why are you here? Get out!"

Chess took a step back, but held her ground. "Mama, I'm a Plumber."

"Never heard of them." the woman said in a snarky tone.

Chess blinked in surprise. "What? You heard of Ben Tennyson, but you never heard of Plumbers?"

"I don't know who 'Ben Tennyson' is, nor do I care. Now, beat it. Thanks to you, I have cleaning to do." the woman snarled.

Sighing, Chess pulled out her Plumber's badge. "Mama, by order of the Plumbers, I have authority to question you."

"Oh, DO you?"

"Yes." Chess growled back. "I DO."

The woman seemed to be staring Chess down. Chess stared back with equal amount of force. That was when Chess saw it. That was when a chilled shiver ran down her spine. The old woman's eyes reminded Chess of something ... deadly. One of her eyes were blood red while the other was an electric blue.

Instantly, Chess seemed to have a flash back to not too long ago, in the forest. Many of those Eve creatures had her surrounded. Many had blood red eyes, but a selected few had one blue eye. This had puzzled Chess, but at the time, she had shoved the thought away.

Now, staring into the woman's eyes, Chess took another step back, as if she was staring into Death's face itself.

"What's the matter?" the woman said in a cruel voice. "You've seen a ghost, or something?"

Chess's hands began to shake as she took another glance around the shack. The trinkets. The dust. The darkness. It all clicked, now.

The old woman blinked, no longer angry or snappy. She tilted her head, looking Chess over. "Now, no need to cry, girly. I'm not THAT scary."

Chess raised one of her hands and felt her face. She hadn't realized that she had began to cry. Quickly wiping away the loose tears, Chess straightened herself up. Looking back at the old lady, she didn't see a deadly Eve any more. She saw an innocent, fragile woman.

Looking at Chess with interest, she gave a slight smile. "A Plumber? Hm ... Yeah. Sure. I guess I've heard of them. What about it?"

Chess gave a weak smile. "You talked to Ben Tennyson about protecting a statue, the same one that had a gem inside it."

It was then that the woman got it. She seemed to growl to herself as she turned around and walked off into another direction. "What do you care?"

Chess took in a deep breath, choosing her words carefully. "Ben Tennyson was guarding that statue. He was told to guard it, by YOU. The night he was guarding it, Eves attacked him and stole the gem inside it."

The woman froze, her back turned to Chess. "I am not familiar with this 'Ben Tennyson', nor have I ever told him to guard the Azure statue. I knew that the Eves would steal it, and I also knew that who ever stood in their way was a fool and would get themselves killed."

"Well, if you didn't tell Ben to guard the statue, then who did?" Chess asked.

"Look, Chess, is it? You've got guts for coming here in the first place, so I'll tell you something actually useful." the woman said, turning around to Chess. "Eves are a complex species. They travel in packs, they hunt together, they have a COMPLETE system for EVERYTHING. So, DON'T be sticking your nose in places it doesn't belong. That's the easiest way to get yourself killed."

"It's a bit late for that." Chess muttered.

"What do you mean by that?" the woman said in a cracking voice.

Chess shuffled her feet, nervously. "The Alpha's dead."

"WHAT?" the woman yelled, her voice seeming to shake the trinkets and glass. "How? He was young. He just became Alpha fifty years ago. This is IMPOSSIBLE. Sure, he was a blood-thirsty Alpha and ran things horribly, but the pack is too gullible to kick him out. Plus, the kits won't be born until next spring. A new Alpha can't be born until then. If they kicked out the Alpha now, then they would all perish without a new one! How the hell could this happen!?"

Chess was stunned. "How do you know ... ?"

"I was next in line to be the Alpha, until that MONSTER killed my father and kicked me out of the pack!" the woman shouted, half to herself.

Chess thought that time itself paused. Deep down, she had known that the woman before her was an Eve, but she didn't want to believe that a woman so old and feeble could be something so dangerous.

Taking a brave move, Chess took a step forward and put a hand on the woman's shoulder. At first, the woman shrunk back, as if ready to defend herself, but she had no fight left in her.

Chess sighed. "What is the statue of Azure?"

The woman looked up. "It's what we Eves have been protecting for thousands of years. Alpha after Alpha we have passed it down, protecting the gems inside. Many years ago, there were four great packs. Each had a statue. There was the Titus statue, the Lunar statue, the Radius statue, and the Azure statue. Over the years, the great packs have died out, and the statues have been hidden in complex tombs with traps and just about anything to keep humans away from our gems. However, as humans have evolved, they have found ways of getting to our statues. Many have just kept them as trophies, but bounty hunters have always found ways of stealing them and finding the gems inside. So, all three gems have been scattered across Earth. The Azure statue was the last statue that was guarded by it's pack. That is, until my father was killed by the new Alpha."

"But why did you have it, instead you your old pack?" Chess asked.

The woman sorted. "Do you really think I would let that blood-thirty bastard have our gem? No. I took it with me, leaving the statue. Then, later on, I stole the statue back. I have lived here, in Undertown for the last fifty years. There has been no problems, until now. It sickens me to know that the Alpha would be so easily bribed into stealing the Azure gem and just giving it away like that."

"He stole it and then gave it away? To who?" Chess asked quickly, trying to process everything.

The woman sighed, walking away to pick up some trinkets and place them back to where they had been before Chess had knocked them over. "I'm not sure. It's out of my hands now. The Alpha's dead now, anyway."

Chess looked down at her feet. "What's going to happen to the pack?"

The old woman took a seat on an old, wooden chair, sighing. "Well, being as stubborn as they are, they'll stay together, fighting over leadership. Then, once they realize that none of them are strong enough to be Alpha, they will scatter, but that will be a fatal mistake. They'll parish on their own without each other."

"You survived." Chess countered.

"I'm an Alpha." the woman said plainly, closing her eyes. "Plus, I came here. Eves are normally afraid of humans, or other life forms. I was always 'different'. I was curious of the outside world. Others called me strange for wanting to know, but look at me now, an old bat living in a run down hut in Undertown."

Chess couldn't help but feeling ... guilty. She knew that it wasn't her fault that this woman had been living in this shack for most of her life, but it WAS her fault that the Eve pack was leaderless, and that they might soon die. Leaning her back against a wall, a shower of dust fell on her, but she didn't move, and just sneezed.

"So, tell me." the woman said, leaned her head on the back of the chair. "Did he scream or was it silent when you killed him?"

Chess jolted. How did she know?

"I can see the shame in your eyes." the woman explained.

"I ..." Chess mumbled, not sure what to say. "I'm ... I'm so sorry."

The woman just grinned lazily. "So, I guess we Eves aren't all that bad? Well, don't be sorry. Personally, I'm happy that bastard's dead. It's a shame, though, that the pack doesn't have a leader. Sure, he wasn't the greatest Alpha, but he was better than nothing."

Chess's head pepped up. "If you're an Alpha, can't you do something?"

The woman just huffed irritated. "Who's going to listen to an old bat like me? Besides, I've been shunned long ago. I'm a disgrace to them. Alpha-less or not, I won't be accepted back into the pack. I belong here."

Chess looked around the shack. It seemed cold and dirty. She snorted, deciding that she had had enough. Turning to leave, she muttered as she left. "No one belongs in a dump."

Walking down the streets of Undertown, Chess was shaking her irritated fur. She could still feel cobwebs sticking to her white fur, making her skin itch. Then again, it wasn't JUST the cobwebs making her skin crawl. There was something else: the sense that something or someone was watching her. Chess had tried to shake this feeling, but she just couldn't. The more she thought about it, the more her fur prickled with unease.

Other aliens surrounded Chess, making her feel both comforted and even more uneasy. She couldn't be sure who was watching her when there were more aliens around her, but at least there were others to be around if she were to confronted or jumped by someone. Either way, Chess flicked her ears in all directions, trying to hone in on any disturbances.

Feeling as if she needed to get away, Chess began to weave around in the crowd. After moving through many different people, she still felt as if beady eyes were pinned on her. Feeling her fur bristling, Chess spun around to see who was following her, but was shocked to see that it was none other than a mutt.

Other aliens that had once been all around Chess had slowly begun to part into different sections of trade enters. Now, Chess stood alone in a wide street with a purple, alien-looking dog only few feet away from her. Chess hated dogs.

Giving a warning hiss, Chess stood her ground. "Get! Scat!"

The dog was sitting on the ground, as if just trying to mess with Chess. Then, as if to make Chess all the more confused, it opened it's mouth just a few inches to reveal what looked to be a glowing gem. The Azure gem.

Chess gasped. "Hey!"

That was when the dog turned, sprinting down the street. Chess stood in a daze for a moment longer, but then snapped back into focus, running after the mutt. Her feet pounded against the hard ground. She tried to focus on the dog in front of her as she followed it through alleys and street corners. They sprinted past crowds, getting dirty looks from others.

All that could be heard was the clicking was the dog's paws, Chess's breathing, merchant's shouting to buyers, and bystanders chanting among each other.

At first, Chess was just follow the dog on foot through the streets and alleys, but soon, the dog had leapt on top of canopies and onto some pipes. Irritated with the chase, Chess had followed closely behind. On the pipes, she had been surprised that the mutt had kept moving from pipe line to pipe line as it kept turning it's head back to Chess, as if making sure that she was still following.

Chess knew that following the mutt would lead her to something, but she also knew that she needed that gem. Whatever it was, it must've been valuable for the Eves to want to protect it for thousands of years. After all, it MUST have had more to it than being shinny, right?

Leaping down from the pipes, the dog ran down into an empty alley. And, to Chess's relief, a dead end. Once she caught up, she gave a smug grin.

"Now," she said, out of breath. "Be a good doggie and give me the gem."

The dog just snarled, taking some steps backwards. Chess was about to take some steps forward, but that was when a shadow stepped out from behind her. Spinning around, Chess faced someone she thought she knew, but she couldn't be too sure.

"Why, hello there." he said, in a low voice.

Chess felt cornered. There was the dog (who belonged to the man) behind her and the tall, pale alien in front of her, blocking her way out of the alley. His black, beady eyes were pinned on her, as if she was some piece of meat.

Chess instinctively clenched her fists, ready to fight her way out if needed. This man looked like he wanted something, but whatever it was, Chess wasn't going to give it to him.

Chess just stared back at him, scowling. "Give me the gem."

"Testy, testy." he said, shaking his head. "Don't even say hello back? Well, we'll get right to the point then."

"Give. Me. The. Gem." Chess said more firmly, her fur prickling.

The man crossed his arms. "Why? It's safe with me."

"Why do you even WANT it?" Chess snarled.

"Why do you want to know?" the man countered.

Chess released a low growl. She heard another growl come from behind her. Slightly turning her head, she saw the dog move around her, taking a seat next to it's master. Putting his hand next to his dog, it released to gem in it's master's hand.

The alien held up the gem for Chess to see. "I COULD give you the gem. OR, I could offer you something even more valuable."

Chess narrowed her eyes. "Like what?"

"Absolute control." he said, grinning.

Chess snorted. "I'm a Plumber. I don't get involved with criminals."

"I would consider myself more of a hunter." the man said, placing the gem inside one of his pockets.

Chess's tail flicked impatiently. "I don't make deals with people I don't know."

"Understandable." the man said, crossing his arms. "I'll tell you my name, then you tell me yours. I'm Kyper: The Universe's Greatest Hunter."

Chess thought she had heard the name before, but she couldn't ever remember a name like that. She knew she couldn't trust this person, but she was more curious at this point. "I'm Chess."

"There." he said with a sly grin. "Now we know each other. Happy?"

"Not really." she said in a snarky voice.

Kyper chuckled. "I like your style, kid. How about I tell you about my deal, now?"

Flicking her ears, Chess crossed her arms, her eyes still narrowed. "I'm listening."

Kyper grinned. "Perfect."

* * *

_This is for the second day of the 4 Day Weekend Marathon. This is Saturday, so it's the next chapter of Forbidden Love. Enjoy!_

_This chapter is just where the story takes some turns. Sorry if it is a little confusing. Eves are a little complicated, but not if you understand what's going on. Basically, they LOVE trinkets, so they get easily bribed. They like cold places, so they mate in the winter, but the kits are born in the spring. They are allergic to sunlight. They can take human form if they wish, but they are cultural, so they wish not to. Hope this clears some things up._

_You'll have to wait until the next chapter to see Kyper's master plan._

_((I DO NOT OWN BEN 10. CHESS BELONGS TO SilverDorumon. I OWN THIS FAN FICTION AND THE IDEAS I PUT INTO IT SO THIS IS COPYRIGHT REDWOLFPRODUCTIONS.))_


	9. Chapter 9

**WARNING: This chapter contains violence/gore.**

Chapter 9 -

Chess went home that night feeling all the more confused. She had gone into Undertown looking for answers to help her cope, but she ended up getting more than she bargained for. She hadn't been expecting to get a deal, but she had ended up being offered one. And, truth be told, she had been seriously considering it.

"I can give you everything you never had." he had whispered.

'Bull.' Chess had thought to herself.

No one could've possibly been able to help her. She was a mess. No one would control the demon inside her. What would've made her think that this hunter or anyone else could?

However, after giving some more details to Chess, she had suddenly began to feel something new. What was this feeling? Was it hope?

Chess didn't know what to do, but she did know that she had to keep the meeting a secret. She had told Kyper that she would think about his offer. Until then, Chess would keep quiet about what she had heard. After all, she didn't want to worry anyone. Or worse, she didn't want to get in trouble for conspiring with a criminal.

When Chess returned to HQ the next day, she decided to do some digging on this 'Kyper' before she made any kind of deal with him. However, that was going to be pretty hard. Everything that Plumbers searched in the system would trace back to the main system, letting everyone see what she had been looking at.

So, if someone saw her looking at Kyper's files, they would have to question her, asking if she was looking in a special mission. Because if she was, then she would have to be looking into one of the confidential systems. That was the one system that allowed Plumbers to search anything without it being traced.

An idea then sparked, but Chess knew that it was a bad one and if caught, she would most likely get into deep trouble.

However, Chess was being eaten alive by curiosity. She NEEDED to know. She just had to. So, Chess decided to make a plan.

* * *

For the whole day, Chess had been making up a plan in her mind. Sure, she spent a lot of time with Rook, but her mind was always some place else, thinking of how she was going to get into the confidential chambers without being detected.

After some thinking, Chess thought she had a pretty decent plan.

So, when Chess got back home that day, she wrote everything down, mapping things out, listing possible obstacles, and just about anything that she thought was necessary.

Chess hadn't gone to bed until almost midnight. She checked her plans over and over, as if trying to find a flaw in them. She knew that there had to be one. There was ALWAYS a flaw in a great plan. Chess knew that for her to have such a well thought out plan, there had to be at least one flaw, but yet, she couldn't seem to find it.

Sighing, Chess decided that she would just have to trust her gut.

* * *

The next day, Chess ran the plan over and over in her mind, having it memorized.

Walking through HQ with Rook, Chess laughed and kissed him on the cheek, making him blush a deep shade of red. Chess gave a small giggle before walking off towards the bathroom.

Once in the bathroom, Chess made sure that no one else was with her before she locked the door. She didn't want anyone walking in on her while she worked her plan.

Being quick, Chess went into one of the middle stalls and stood on top of the toilet seat. Carefully, she crawled from the seat to the stall wall, being careful to balance and not fall. Up above her head was the vent shaft she had been looking for. Trying to balance at the same time, Chess dug her fingers around the vent lining and continued to pull at it until it gave away.

Once it pulled free, Chess began to wobble, almost falling over. However, as she steadied herself, she wasn't able to hold onto the metal vent piece she held. She seemed to watch in slow motion as it fell to the ground, making a loud clatter.

Chess shut her eyes, her nails digging into the side of the wall. Her heart seemed to beat out of her chest. She just hoped that no one had heard.

Acting quickly, Chess leaped up from the stall wall and wiggled into the shaft. The shaft wasn't that big, but it was just big enough for Chess's slender, cat-like figure to crawl through. Chess had been planning on putting the metal piece back on, but now that she thought about it, there would've been no way for her to hold onto it and wiggle into the shaft at the same time, even if she hadn't dropped it on the ground.

That was flaw number one. Chess just hoped it was the only flaw in her plan. She couldn't afford any more.

Chess gave a glance back, but then turned back towards what was in front of her. The shaft seemed dark and dusty, but she didn't really have a choice now. There was no going back. Taking in a deep breath, Chess began to crawl on her knees.

The air got tighter and tighter as Chess continued forward. It was pitch black, but Chess was easily able to see with her cat-like vision. If there was any sudden movement, she would be able to see it. However, Chess didn't have to go that far. The bathroom was the closest thing to the controls room. From there, she could get to the confidential research room. That is, if there weren't any flaws.

Chess then saw a dim light. As she got closer to it, she saw that she was above the control room. She looked through the metal vent piece, trying to see if there was anyone in it. She knew that no one would be in the control room until noon exactly, but she couldn't be too careful.

Once she thought that things were safe, Chess pulled free the piece, this time making sure that it didn't clatter to the floor. Going feet and tail first down, Chess allowed herself to free fall out of the vent. To her horror, the vent had been higher off the ground then she had judged.

However, there wasn't anything below her. As she soundless landed on her feet, Chess felt like her stomach had fallen down to her feet, but once she felt like the sudden sickness had passed, Chess was fully focused on her mission.

The controls room was just what it sounded like. It wasn't that big, but there was a large controls panel in the middle of the room, letting people come in at noon to check what progress was made so far that day. All Chess needed to do was get through the control room and make it to the next chamber, where the confidential files were being kept.

However, there was a catch. There always was a catch.

The controls room held so many secrets, so much important information, that there HAD to be some sort of high security in it. And Chess just happened to know what it was. There weren't any lasers, or trap doors, but there WERE motion sensors that could easily be set off.

So, Chess took in a deep breath, and pin pointed where the motion detectors where before she so much as dared to flinch. Pulling out the pack she had in her back pocket, Chess opened it and silently slipped her hand inside, feeling the powdery substance.

Carefully pulling a handful out, Chess scattered a flick or two around the motion sensors closest to her. Instantly, the field of vision that was once invisible now trapped the dust around it's lines, as it acted like a magnet to dust.

Chess gracefully stepped around these motion sensors. They weren't just on the floor, around her feet, but they were around in the air, above her head and ears. Chess scattered dust everywhere she went. Thankfully, she had just enough to cover her whole way out of the control room.

When Chess pressed the control keys, opening the chamber doors, she expected blaring red lights to go off along with the alarm sounds, but there were none. Chess released a breath she had been holding in.

As she walked into the chamber, the door shut behind her, leaving her in utter darkness. The darkness wasn't as dark as when she had been in the shaft, but it still left her almost blinded. She knew she had to finish the job quickly if she was get what she wanted, and get out scot free.

Chess made her way out of the chamber, walking into another. This was the one she was looking for. This was the confidential research room. She gave a slight grin at her slyness.

The room was dark, but Chess soon found a light switch. The lights slowly turned on, one by one. Chess felt as if someone would walk in at any moment, so she was quick to act.

Going to the nearest computer system, Chess instantly turned on the power and opened the search system.

In the search she typed: 'Kyper: Universe Huntsman'.

Instantly, millions of files popped up on the screen. Chess could hardly believe it. She had the feeling that Kyper was a criminal, but she didn't think he was this well known. This made Chess's decision all the more hard. From the looks of it, he had no trouble controlling predators and prey, so it would only figure that he would have no trouble in controlling Chess, but that was also bad.

If he so desired to, he could control Chess as if she were his puppet, or his prey. Chess knew in the back of her mind that this was a horrible, horrible idea, but what other choice did she have?

If Chess didn't do something now, then she would eventually spiral out of control.

* * *

Rook wasn't sure what was going on, but there was a strangeness going on. It was almost as if Rook had 'Rook senses', and it was almost as if they were tingling.

Rook released a sigh, thinking that perhaps he was just crazy, but yet, in the back of his mind he knew that something terrible was about to happen. He knew that something ... 'drastic' was about to happen.

* * *

Chess wondered up the slope, the same place she had agreed on meeting Kyper. She still had the choice. She still had the chance to turn around and just flake out, but she had already made up her mind on what she was going to do. So, Chess took in a deep breath and took brave steps forward, preparing herself for anything to come.

Once Chess had gotten to the top of the slope, the sun had already begun to set. She had wanted to get this done quickly, before the sun had completely gone down. The faster she got this deed done, the better for everyone.

So, Chess got to the top of the slope. The slope was on the outside of Bellwood, making Chess have to drive for a good twenty minutes just to get there. And when she DID get there, she had to hike in forest for almost ten minutes. Once she got to the slope, she spent a while longer climbing up it.

'This better be worth it.' she thought bitterly to herself.

The top of the slope was nothing but grass and dirt. Both had wanted the meeting place to be out of the way, but this was just a little extreme. Chess hoped that next time (if there WAS a next time) she wouldn't have to meet some place so out of the way.

A large rock stuck out of the ground by the edge of the slope. Chess walked over to the rock and sat down, feeling like she needed a long rest. Her feet were sore from walking through thick, dense forest. That was another reason she wanted this meeting to go by quick. She didn't want to have to walk all the way back in the dark. It was torture enough having to do it in daylight.

Finally, after waiting for a while, Kyper had arrived. And, to Chess's dismay, he brought his mutt along with him. Chess pinned back her ears in irritation.

"Ah, so you DID show up." he said, looking at the tired Chess.

"Yeah." Chess muttered. "I guess I did."

Kyper's dog looked Chess over, giving a small growl, but sat down on a patch of grass and left the cat-like alien alone.

Chess gave the mutt a glare before returning her gaze to Kyper. "So. What is this 'deal' you wanted to make?"

Kyper gave a sly grin. "Just like I said before. I'll give you all the control you could ever need. You wouldn't ever have to worry about loosing your control. Ever."

"Yeah, whatever." Chess said, irritated. "I was meaning, what is your PLAN?"

Kyper had been dying to tell her, so now he had the chance. "Your DNA is just simply programed to be out of control. It is only by nature that you act on such impulses. However, I can simply rewrite this DNA, allowing you to either control your power, or just simply erase it completely."

Chess seemed to simply stop breathing. So, this was it? She was FINALLY given the chance to be rid of her cursed nature. There was no second thoughts. She wanted to be rid of it. She wanted it to be gone forever.

However, Chess had enough sense to narrow her eyes at Kyper. "And what do YOU get out of it?"

Kyper gave a wicked smile. "Your new code."

"What?"

"When you were healed from the poison in the Eve's claws, you were being healed from the anti-venom from the same substance."

Chess understood. Rook had made the anti-venom to cure her and Ben.

Kyper continued. "Once you have that, there is only a short amount of time before your natural DNA code takes over, completely ridding your system of the anti-venom, returning you back to normal. Until then, however, you have something ... 'special', that I just so happen want."

Chess didn't understand this part. "What 'special' thing?"

"You just simply possess a similar power as the Eves do. It isn't much, but it is something that is rare, considering that not that many people know about the anti-venom and people that do encounter Eves most likely die, rather than find the cure." Kyper explained. "However, this power only responds to one of the four Eves' gems. Since you happen to have this power for the time being, I have decided to cut you a deal. I give you a cure for your 'disease' and you aid me with this power."

Chess processed all of this. It sounded legit. Chess got what she had wanted for mostly all of her life, and Kyper got to use a little bit of power. But why did he want it? Chess had considered asking him, but she decided that it was best to figure this part out for herself.

Standing up, Chess walked face to face with Kyper, her eyes still narrowed. There was a long pause before she lifted up her hand. Kyper gave a satisfied grin, raising his hand up, too, to shake Chess's.

So, that was that.

Kyper let go of Chess's hand and pulled out his pack. He reached in and pulled out what looked to be a collar.

Chess took a step back. "What's that?"

"Your freedom." Kyper explained.

Chess had a hiss in her voice. "You agreed to CURE me, not make me your PET."

Kyper gave an annoyed grunt. "This IS the cure. You will place it around your neck, letting you be able to control your power. After a while, the power will slowly change out."

"How is THAT going to work?" Chess snarled.

"The gem inside the collar will attract your power. After it has absorbed every last drop of your power, your DNA will be rewritten, and the power inside the gem will die without a body."

Chess took a look over the collar. It was a silver color, almost like a necklace, but it was thick and would wrap all the way around her neck, just like a fancy pet collar. The white gem in the middle seemed to look almost hungry, almost as if it knew it was close to Chess's power, wanting to have it all for itself.

Chess twitched her ears, unsure, but then she made her decision. Sighing, she reached out her hand, letting Kyper hand her the collar.

Chess held up the collar, taking a quick scan of it herself. She glanced at Kyper with a questioning look, but he urged her to continue. Hands shaking, Chess clipped the gemmed collar around her neck, making it ruffle the fur around her neck.

The collar didn't choke her, in fact, if hardly felt as if it were there.

It had only taken seconds for the effects to kick in, though.

The greedy gem began to frantically suck away at Chess. Even though she couldn't see it, she felt light headed and as if her whole body was shaking, trying to fight it, but just couldn't. Chess's fur stood on end, as if preparing for battle.

She stared angrily at Kyper.

"What did you do!?" she cried out, trying to claw away at the collar, but once she had clipped it on, it was as if it as molding together, not able to unclip.

Chess then found it hard to breathe. Her whole body was trembling as she fell to the ground. She had been clawing so frantically at the collar that she could taste her own blood in her mouth. Her hands became wet with her own blood, but she didn't care. She just tried with all her might to get the collar off, which was now seeming to shrink, suffocating her.

Chess rolled on the ground, then looked up at the setting sky. Her vision soon blurred. Her body felt as if it were being sucked from the inside out. Blood dripped out the side of her mouth, soaking her white fur with scarlet red blood.

The last thing Chess saw and remembered was the smug grin of Kyper and his cruel words. "You're mine, now."

* * *

_Sorry this one is short. Today is finally stopped snowing and raining so I had to go outside and act like I was five again._

_((I DO NOT OWN BEN 10. CHESS BELONGS TO SilverDorumon. I OWN THIS FAN FICTION AND THE IDEAS I PUT INTO IT SO THIS IS COPYRIGHT REDWOLFPRODUCTIONS.))_


	10. Chapter 10

**WARNING: This chapter contains violence/gore and strong language.**

Chapter 10 -

Chess knew she wasn't where she was suppose to be. The room was wet and dark, as if she was in an abandoned basement. Chess could even hear a leaking sound off in the distance. Feeling around, Chess noticed that she was lying on cold, stone ground. She sat up easily, not the least bit hurt.

Something wasn't right, though. Chess knew that something was off.

No matter how hard she tried, Chess just couldn't wrap her paws around what had happened. Where was she? Why was she here? She couldn't remember anything.

Suddenly, there was a sharp pain in the back of her head, making Chess feel dizzy. Chess placed one of her hands behind her head, feeling it to make sure she hadn't hit or bumped it. Everything felt normal enough. However, that was when Chess noticed something around her neck.

Whatever was around her neck felt cold and smooth. Chess winced at the pain in her neck. The pain was sharp and nasty, but only lasted for a few seconds. She hadn't noticed before, but her neck was completely numb. Whatever was around her neck was embedded around her neck, as if it had dug through her neck fur and buried into her flesh.

When Chess pulled her hand away, she saw that there was dry blood all over her hands. What was this from? Chess couldn't remember this, either.

For a slit second, Chess felt frightened, even frustrated. Why couldn't she remember anything? Where was she? What was round her neck? Chess wanted to feel around her neck some more around the strange object, but she decided on not to, seeing that it was so embedded into her neck.

Taking a closer glance around her surrounds, Chess saw that she was in a gloomy, dark room. The air was tight, making it hard for Chess to breathe. The only sounds that could be heard was the leaking sound that came from somewhere off to the side of the room.

A few moments later, Chess heard clicking noises, as if small nails were clicking on the stone floor. Chess tensed up, preparing herself for anything to come.

Shadows casted along the tall, dark walls. Chess wasn't sure what was coming, or why they where here, but she would ask questions later. For now, she needed to protect herself. Standing up, Chess nearly wobbled over from the dizziness, but quickly regained her strength and stood up straight.

Once the figure came around the corner, Chess nearly hissed in irritation. The scent of dog instantly hit her. However, just when the mutt rounded the corner, so had it's master. For a second, Chess almost didn't recognize this person. Who was he?

That was when the memory suddenly hit Chess. She was hit with sudden rage, but it disappeared once she felt her neck tighten. It didn't hurt, but more felt warm. Feeling something dripping down her chest, Chess felt her fur, then looked at her hand, to see that thick blood covered her hands. Chess suddenly felt light headed, again.

Chess felt herself fall to her knees, staring at the ground. Blood dripped down to the ground. Chess wasn't panicking, though. She was suddenly hit with a new feeling. What was this feeling? Was it ... pride?

* * *

Rook didn't know what to do. He hadn't seen Chess at work all day the day before and at all this day, and he wasn't sure if she was just running late or if something really was wrong. That was when Rook remembered what he had felt the day before: the feeling of sudden dread.

Rook was sure that Chess could take care of herself. She was highly trained, after all.

Rook sighed. Perhaps he was just worrying over nothing. Or perhaps he was right to worry ...

Rook had never been more confused about something.

* * *

"Sir, there is a disturbance in the downtown area." one of the magisters informed Max.

Max moved down beside the scanner, looking carefully at the screen. The scanners showed police reports and 911 calls currently being made. Most of the current ones that popped up on the screen seemed to be coming from downtown, not too far away from when HQ was.

"Can you get any further details?" Max asked.

"I could." the female answered. "But it could take some time. The disturbance could pass or get worse by the time I find anything."

Max muttered something under his breath. "Find Ben. Contact him so I can speak with him."

"Yes, Sir." she said, quickly working.

* * *

When Ben was contacted, he was somewhere in Undertown. Truth was, he had been looking for something to do. Mainly just kick some butt, but nothing came up.

Ben's omnitrix began to lightly flash. Sighing, Ben lifted his wrist up. "Yeah?"

"Ben. Downtown. Something big is happening." Grandpa Max's voice came up. "Hurry. Contact Rook while you're on your way."

"On it." Ben said, quickly making his way out of Undertown.

Finally, some action.

* * *

On the way to downtown, Ben had called Rook. Ben knew that it wouldn't take Rook long to get to the scene. So, Ben hadn't taken his time in getting to the scene. After all, he was too excited to wait up for Rook.

Ben hurried down to the scene. However, once he got to downtown, he hadn't been expecting what he saw. Well, he hadn't been expecting to have a car suddenly flung his way. Ben had barely dodged out of the way in time as the car hit a lamp post, knocking it over. Seconds later, the car burst into flames and leaked gas everywhere. Gasping, Ben quickly got to his feet and ran as fast as he could before the car exploded into flames, sending bits of car and flames everywhere.

Ben had fell to the ground, covering his head with his arms. Once he regained himself, Ben got to his feet. He looked to the direction that the car he been thrown from. And, to his horror, more cars had been toppled over and were in flames. The paved road had been torn up, as if some kind of animal had thrown a fit. One of the building's sides were pounded in, showing that a lamp post had been ripped from the ground and used as a battering ram to smash into the building.

Ben quickly moved down the street, looking for whatever had caused all the destruction. As Ben continued to hurry down the street, he suddenly heard some faint cries for help. Moving faster, Ben saw that down another street, more destruction was being done.

Citizens ran down the street, many pushing past Ben and trying to get away from the creature that was going on a rampage. Ben tried to get a closer look at whatever the creature was, but people that continued to move past him made it almost impossible.

Frustrated, Ben pushed past people, trying to get to the fight.

Suddenly, before Ben could even blink, something shot over his head. Some kind of debris. Ben expected it to hit the street behind him, but instead, it hit the side of the building, sending more bits and pieces of rubble flying down below.

Now the people had cleared out of the way, Ben could see that creature that was attacking their streets. Well, kind of. The creature that was attacking was fast and had unbelievable strength. As Ben watched the creature for a moment, he saw that it wasn't trying to attack any humans or cause any living thing harm, but it WAS endangering citizens. And, it seemed to be throwing a fit on the road.

Using it's super speed and strength, the creature shreaded through the paved road, ripping and tearing through the ground. Ben thought he saw some white fur on the creature, but that was all he saw before it disappeared into the ground. As it seemed to burrow into the ground, more pavement flew up into the air.

Thinking quickly, Ben dialed his omnitrix, trying to find something that would help him with something like this. Slamming his hand down, Ben instantly turned into Fourarms. Once he turned into Fourarms, the creature emerged from the ground, launching itself towards the nearest car, slamming it's fists down on the hood in a fit of rage.

"You know," Ben said. "They have this new thing. It's called 'anger management classes'."

That was when the creature stopped what it was doing and turned towards Ben, letting Ben get a good look at what he was against. That was when Ben nearly stopped breathing.

"Wait ... WHAT?!" he cried out.

Not hesitating, the creature, who turned out to be Chess, gripped the car by it's bumper, lifting it into the air with little to no effort. Giving a quick swing, Chess launched the car at Ben.

Eyes wide, the car instantly hit Ben, throwing him backward at the building behind him. The car squishing him against the building, but he wasn't the least bit hurt. Easily, Ben pushed the car off himself. He shook his head, trying to regain his focus. However, by the time he had, Chess had already launched another attack.

Ripping another lamp post out of the ground, Chess full-out sprinted towards Ben, raising the pole into the air, releasing a lion's roar.

This time, Ben was quick to react. Grabbing the pole with two of his four arms, Ben pushed back on the pole, but was met with surprising strength that he never knew Chess had. When both refused to let go or back down, Chess released yet another roar. Ben had never heard Chess roar before.

Chess, now in another fit of rage, twisted the pole and flung it to the side, with Ben still holding on tightly. Ben hit the pavement. Hard.

Ben slowly got back up. He expected Chess to launch another attack, but she must have gotten bored of the fight and decided to go off some place else and destroy something else. Ben looked up as he watched Chess move with super speed down the street. As she flew by, her feet kicked up pavement.

Ben got up and stared backly at the fire that caught on the building and cars around him and the road that had been so easily torn apart. Just as he did so, the omnitrix time out and he returned to his natural form.

Ben stared for another moment longer, then flipped his shit. "WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?!"

* * *

By the time that Ben had caught back up with Chess it was just a few hours left until sundown. The reason being that Chess was just so damn fast and that Ben's omnitrix wasn't giving Ben anything he wanted. So, after hours of chasing Chess through the city and most of it being torn apart, the omnitrix had FINALLY given Ben XLR8. That was when Ben had finally caught up with Chess and knocked her to the ground, catching her attention.

That was when the two had had a speed war.

The two had chased each other through the city, nipping at each other's heels. Ben had tried to stop her as fast as he could, but Chess somehow managed to destroy many buildings in the process of the chase. At this point, most of the city of Bellwood had already evacuated.

Ben knew that other Plumbers would soon be on the way. If he didn't stop Chess, then they would.

And where the hell was Rook?!

Ben knew that he had called him hours ago. He should've been at the scene LONG ago.

At one point in the chase, Ben had managed to stop Chess long enough for him to circle around her, sending a wind tunnel around her. Chess's fur ruffled in the wind and her eyes watered.

"Can't hit what you can't see!" Ben teased.

That was when Chess gave an annoyed snarl, throwing one of her hands out, catching Ben by shoulder and throwing him into the pavement. Ben flew into the pavement, sending bits and pieces flying everywhere. Once he finally stopped flying through the road, the omnitrix timed out, returning him to his natural form. At this point, Ben wasn't sure what to do. Chess didn't even want to fight Ben, but she had already scraped him up and made his whole body feel sore, along with destroying half of Bellwood.

However, along the chase, Ben had noticed something.

There was something around Chess's neck. It was bright silver, but was blood stained and buried in Chess's neck fur. The gem in the front glowed a bright red. The hair that covered Chess's eye that was normally a blood red was now a dull grey. It was as if the power had been sucked right out of Chess and into the gem.

Feeling his head, Ben sighed. It didn't feel like it. Chess was as powerful as ever.

That was when Ben saw it. A helicopter hovered in the air, it's bright light beaming down on Chess. Ben then felt horrified, thinking that it would shoot at Chess, but instead, it seemed to be a news crew trying to get some shots of the animal tearing apart their beloved city.

Chess had made her way on top of a tall building. Once the light hit her, she shrunk back as if she were a vampire. Looking up at the light, she hissed, showing her white fangs. To Ben's horror, Chess leaped forward into the air. No one had expected her to be able to launch into the air at such distance.

Catching the helicopter at the front, Chess began to rip and tear at the metal. Wires and sparks flew everywhere. The helicopter quickly lost control, falling to the ground. Chess fell down with the helicopter, still in a fit of rage.

Ben quickly ran to the scene where the helicopter fell, even though his whole body screamed with pain.

Once Ben got to where the helicopter fell, he saw that it had already begun to burst into flames. Chess was no where to be seen.

Acting quickly, Ben ran to the helicopter. The glass had been cracked. The pilot hung limply inside. Ben broke the glass with his elbow, shattering the glass. Reaching inside, Ben unclipped the seat belt and pulled out the pilot. Ben dragged the pilot out into the empty street.

Once he had pulled him out, Ben covered the pilot with his body just as the helicopter blew apart in a mess of flames. Once Ben felt the flames dying down, he pulled away and looked around. There was sign of Chess, but there WAS a giant hole in the ground.

Great.

Off in the distance there were barking dogs, sirens, car alarms, the sound of flames growing, and water leaking from broken fire hydrants. Ben drew in a breath. Bellwood had been beaten down before by villains, but never like this. And Chess wasn't even a villain. She wasn't trying to hurt anyone or Ben. She had just been going on a rampage.

Ben looked at the pilot, seeing that he was beginning to fidget.

Ben sighed heavily. He could hear vehicles coming from a far distance. He guessed it was either the Plumbers or the police. Either way, no one was going to catch Chess. But Ben didn't think it mattered. He knew that Chess had finished whatever it was she had been doing. If she had been attempting to make Ben feel beaten and helpless, then she had succeeded.

Ben sat on the pavement, hugging his knees. His whole body felt as if it were on fire. It might as well have been.

* * *

Traveling through the sewers, Chess quickly made her way under Bellwood. Once she was on the outshirts of Bellwood, she crawled out of a man-hole. Her orders had been simple.

"Destroy everything." was what her master had told her.

Chess had done just that. True, she hadn't destroyed EVERYTHING, but she had done everything she could before she was due to return back to her master's ship. From there, they would rest up for the next day. The BIG day.

While Bellwood was weak and in ruins, then Kyper would use his new found power and 'pet' to not only destroy Ben Tennyson, but gain absolute control.

* * *

_There is only a few more chapters left to go!_

_I really should stop drinking soda and listening to rock while writing these ..._

_((I DO NOT OWN BEN 10. CHESS BELONGS TO SilverDorumon. I OWN THIS FAN FICTION AND THE IDEAS I PUT INTO IT SO THIS IS COPYRIGHT REDWOLFPRODUCTIONS.))_


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11 -

The city was in ruins. Never before had the city taken such a beating. Ben had seen days where Bellwood would have lava running down the streets, having alien-robots crashing by buildings, and when alien-frogs would try and invade, but nothing like this. This was pure destruction. And Ben hadn't been able to do anything about it. If anything, he had only slowed down Chess during her rampage.

Ben had been completely sore. Sure, he had only had a few scratches here and there, but his whole body felt as if it were on fire. His muscles felt as if he so much as twitched, Ben would moan out in pain. However, Ben knew that if he didn't stretch himself out, his muscles would stiffen, and he would be even more sore later.

Plumbers and police were everywhere. The fire department tried to keep the fires under control, making sure that the fires couldn't spread to the rest of the city. Police had tried investigating the area where Chess had escaped, but it was almost impossible.

When Chess had escaped, she had torn up pipes as she tore through the ground, making steam flood through the sewers and above ground.

The Plumbers had a better guess on where Chess had gone, though. Many believed that Chess had escaped through the sewers and gone back to Undertown. So, large groups of Plumbers had gone down into the sewers or into Undertown, searching for Chess. Ben didn't know what would happen if they found Chess. No one really did.

So, all Ben could really do was walk around the city and help people as much as he could. It had been a long night.

Ben would occasionally stop to rest, but for most of the night, Ben had helped others. For example, Ben had used Bigchill to help put out most of the fires. He had used Fourarms to help clear some of the rubble. XLR8 was used to rush through the city, to make sure that Chess hadn't popped up some place else.

Once the sun had appeared over the horizon, Ben felt as if he were going to pass out. Ben knew that everyone had evacuated from the city, including his parents. Nevertheless, Ben had returned to his home. Thankfully, it had been untouched. Ben had to kick in his door, since he lost his key and no one was home, but Ben didn't even care anymore.

Dragging his feet on the ground, Ben had carried himself up stairs and to his bedroom. His messy room seemed more empty than usual. Kicking off his shoes, Ben had flopped into his sheets, not bothering to undress himself. Once Ben hit his mattress, he seemed to instantly fall into a sleep comma.

* * *

The city was still in ruins, but there was still people who needed to have a place to live. So many had left Bellwood, leaving so many unsure of where they were to go. Never before had they had to leave their city. Sure, major incidents had happened before, but never major enough for the whole city to evacuate.

However, the city was only evacuated for a whole day. The next morning, the city was able to move back Bellwood. Sure, the city was completely beat down and most of the roads were closed off, but at least people were able to return to their homes. That is, if the creature that attacked their city hadn't destroyed their house.

When Ben's parents had reached their house, they had gone straight to their son's room. Being careful not to wake him, they checked to see that he was in his room sleeping, and that he was alright. Both had sighed with relief that he was alright. Both we surprised, though. Even with all the noise going on around Bellwood, Ben was able to sleep perfectly fine. Both figured that Ben was tired, though. No one could blame him.

Well, a lot of people could blame Ben. After all, everyone had trusted Ben for over six years to protect Bellwood. Never once had they needed to evacuate the whole city. Not ONCE. Now, they all had to pack up their lives, or some of it, and left as soon as they could to protect their loved ones. Yet, Ben hadn't been able to stop the creature that had attacked their beloved city. He hadn't done much of anything, really.

So, when everyone had came back from wherever they had gone, all they had noticed was Ben Tennyson sleeping inside his house. What else were they to think of this?

At least law enforcement was working on the case and the fire department had put out all the fires, though. Even if no one knew that Ben had helped in doing these tasks, they were happy with the fact that they could return to Bellwood nevertheless.

Many people had cried, though. And, in the process, many had wondered where Ben Tennyson was. Where was he to hear them all suffering? Sleeping. He was sleeping.

* * *

Chess sat in the corner of the room on her hunches, as if she were a dog. Her eyes were pinned forward, patiently awaiting for the orders from her master if they ever came. Chess knew they were going to come soon, though. Today was the day, after all.

Her master's plan had been working just as he had thought. The people were already moving back into the city, despite Chess having destroyed a large amount of it. Now, all they had to do was wait. They had to wait for the humans to settle in. After all, not all of Bellwood had came back, yet. They had to wait until every single person had returned.

Chess's blood pumped in her ears. This had happened often. The only other sound she could hear besides the blood rushing to her head was the sound of her master's voice. Nothing else mattered. Her master had told her so. Only follow orders.

Although the blood pumped to her head, Chess knew what it was like. She knew what her blood was made of. Through all her normal blood ran something new. What was this new substance? Chess didn't know, but her master had referred to this substance as power. She had the power, but she only had it for a limited amount of time.

Chess knew that the power made her master happy. She also knew that the power would soon leave her body. Once the power was gone, then her master would no longer be pleased with her. So, Chess had been determined. She had been determined to please her master by giving him this power, and letting him use her power.

That was what Chess knew she was made for. She was made to keep her master happy. If she didn't make him happy, then she had no purpose.

Chess didn't want to be like the mutt. She hated the mutt that would follow her master. HER master. Chess's master would often pet this MUTT and show affection towards it, but never Chess. Yet, Chess had given him this power, and made him happy. She had shown him nothing but her complete loyalty, and what thanks was she given? Nothing.

But did Chess care? No. She didn't care one bit. All Chess cared about besides making her master happy was being stronger then the mutt.

Chess knew she was all powerful. She posed great strength and speed, along with the power, and what did this mutt have? A fancy color that let it change into strange creatures. But there was a catch. The mutt could only change into these creatures whenever her master commanded it through a whistle.

Did Chess need a whistle? No. Yet, this mutt was always the center of attention. Where as the mutt needed to be commanded for every action it did, Chess would just need a simply order, and then would complete the task on her own.

Chess knew what had to be done, but she also knew that it was challenging loyalty. Would doing so make her master happy? Perhaps. Perhaps by doing so he would see Chess's full potential and see that SHE was the real Alpha, rather than this MUTT.

Alpha...

The word just seemed to come naturally to Chess for some reason.

* * *

Kyper patted his dog on the head and gave a satisfied grin. He knew that Chess was in the corner of the room, hunched over. He liked to know that his new pet was watching, completely under his control.

The plan was set. All that they had to do now was wait.

All Kyper had really needed was someone to destroy the town and someone with the blood of an Alpha Eve. Coincidently, Chess had been able to give Kyper both of these. Sure, Chess wasn't an Eve, let alone an Alpha, but she WAS temporarily infused with the DNA of an Alpha Eve. All Kyper really needed was for her to awake all four gems. Once she had done that, and given the stone that was in her collar to Kyper, then she was as useful as a piece of trash to Kyper.

So, Kyper had all but lost interest in Chess. All he needed from her now was to awaken the gems. And that would soon happen in a few hours. In a few hours, he would have control over all of Bellwood. Once he had control of Bellwood, then the earth would soon be next. And once he had earth, why not the rest of the universe? It just seemed logical.

While Kyper was at it, he might as well take some of that DNA of Chess's and give it to his dog. After all, without Chess, Kyper would need his dog to keep order among his new kingdom for when he wasn't around.

Kyper's plan was simple. He would use the DNA that was now in the stone in Chess's collar, which contained her normal DNA and the DNA of an Alpha Eve. With it, Kyper would be able to have the same mind power as that of an Alpha Eve. It would be useless without other Eves, though. So, the gems that would soon be awaken would release a hidden magic. A spell, if you will.

An ancient spell that would turn humans into Eves. Once in Eve form, they would have the instincts of that of normal Eves. Obey the Alpha.

* * *

_Alright. I know this chapter is short, but I'm going to post another chapter in the morning. This is just a filler since I post a chapter every Saturday. I'm going to post two chapters this week I guess._

_I didn't have time to finish since I was taking care of my lizard. He's sick._

_((I DO NOT OWN BEN 10. CHESS BELONGS TO SilverDorumon. I OWN THIS FAN FICTION AND THE IDEAS I PUT INTO IT SO THIS IS COPYRIGHT REDWOLFPRODUCTIONS.))_


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12 -

There was a sudden trembling, as if there was an earthquake going on. Ben instantly awoke to everything around him shaking. Ben had at first been in shock, thinking he was just thinking, but once he heard the frightened cries of his mother coming from inside the house, Ben knew he wasn't sleeping.

Ben tried to get out of his bed, but the gravity seemed to be pulling Ben towards the ground, not letting him so much as sit up. However, the shaking had only lasted for a moment longer. Suddenly, the shaking stopped.

It took Ben a moment to regain his strength, but he quickly got out of bed and stumbled out of his room. Making his way down stairs, Ben called out for his family. "Mom? Dad? Are you guys alright?"

"Ben?" his mother called form downstairs. "Honey, are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Mom. Is Dad down there?" Ben called as he carefully walked down the stairs. He didn't know if they would collapse or not.

"I'm here." Ben's dad said from downstairs.

Once Ben got down the stairs, he saw that a few things had been knocked over from the shaking, but nothing too serious. Both Ben's parents were sitting in the middle of the living room, as if they had been knocked to the ground when the shaking begun.

Ben rushed over to his parents. "Are you guys okay?"

Both slowly stood up. Carl helped his wife to her feet.

"We're fine." his mother insisted.

Carl turned to his son. "What the hell was THAT?"

Ben looked at his parents with confusion, shrugging. "I don't know."

* * *

Kyper hadn't been sure what the trembling was, but he didn't care. This wouldn't interfere with his plans.

Kyper turned to Chess with a wicked grin. He, his dog, and Chess were at the top of the hill that overviewed the whole city. They were in the shadows of the trees, but the gems shone so brightly that anyone below would be able to see them.

Pointing towards the gems, Kyper gave Chess a stern look. "Do it."

Chess emerged from the shadows. She stood tall and proud. This seemed strange to Kyper. Normally, in his prescience, Chess would shrink down to be lower than Kyper, and she wouldn't have such a face of determination.

Now, Chess looked ready to do just about anything.

Walking up to the gems, Chess seemed to look through Kyper, as if she had lost interest. Once she reached the small half circle that that gems formed, Chess dug her feet into the ground. Kyper didn't know what she was doing, but he didn't care so long as she woke the gems.

Once Chess had made a dirt circle around herself, Chess continued to make dirt lines in the ground. She made a line from the edge of the circle to one of the gems. She did the same for the other three. Once all four gems had a line leading towards the inner circle, Chess walked back to the circle and sat down on her knees.

Once she sat down, Chess looked towards the ground, and shut her eyes. She then seemed to hum something to herself. Kyper was getting irritated, seeing as that he didn't know what Chess was doing, but he let her do it, nevertheless.

That was when Kyper saw it. However, it hadn't happened like Kyper expected. Instead of the power running all over the city of Bellwood, all the power ran from the dirt lines up to Chess. Kyper watched as the rainbow colored powers joined together in the center circle. At first, all the power did was twist around in the dirt circle, but then it did something extraordinary.

All the power sudden rushed up to Chess. The power seemed to run up from the ground onto Chess's hands, the colors dancing on Chess's finger tips. The power soon found Chess's finger nails. The power quickly seeped in through Chess's finger nails, running inside her body. Chess's veins instantly ran with the colors of the gems.

The colors ran up Chess's arms and down her back. Soon, it reached down to her legs and feet. Chess then opened her eyes, to show that her yellow and red eyes were replaced with the changing colors of the gems.

That was when there was the next tremble. Kyper's first guess was that it was just an aftershock, but that wasn't the case. Bright colors and sparks flew from the dirt circle, spreading all around on the ground. The green grass slowly turned into bright colors. These colors soon faded as they spread, though. Once the color would hit the grass, it would turn from beautiful and brilliant lights into a dark, black color, as if the gem's magic was poison.

Kyper's dog flinched back as the grass around it's feet turned black, and black goo seemed to wrap around the mutt's paws, but once it realized that it wasn't human, the magic spell would continue to spread further, avoiding any living life form that wasn't human. Any object it seemed to touch though turned black.

Kyper quickly turned towards Chess. "What did you do?!"

Chess slowly stood up, her back to Kyper. Her white pelt seemed to suddenly glow brightly with the colors. Turning towards Kyper, she blinked her now pupil-less eyes.

"I am strong, now." she said in a vibrant voice. "I am not only stronger then the mutt, but I am stronger then you, Dear Master."

Kyper pulled out one of his blades. "I am your master! You obey ME! This is NOT what I wanted! I will have all the power, and I will be the commander. Not YOU!"

Chess, for once in days, showed emotion as she grinned widely. "I wished only to please you. But I realized something. Why please you with riches when I can please myself?"

Kyper glanced at the stone in Chess's collar. It still shone a bright red. All he had to do was get that stone, then she would snap out of the trance he had put her in. Then, Kyper would just have to force Chess into returning the power somehow.

Chess tilted her head as she stared blankly ahead at Kyper's blade. "I'm sorry, but the pack has no room for challengers."

"What?" Kyper growled.

Suddenly, black goo seemed to form around Kyper's feet, sticking him to the ground.

Chess smirked. "You wish to challenge me? I have no time for such a weak challenger. I am the Alpha, now. It is time for my pack to arise."

Kyper's dog began to whimper as it chewed at it's master's feet, trying to get the black goo off him, but ended up being attacked by the same dark material.

Chess didn't stick around to see the two be engorged by the goo. Instead, she turned and began walking down the hill. As she walked, she saw as her gems' dark magic would turn everything dark. Soon, this same magic would run into Bellwood, seeking out any humans, and rewriting their DNA.

'I am the master, now.' Chess thought to herself. 'I am the Alpha.'

Something deep down inside Chess was screaming. What was it screaming? Chess didn't know. Whatever was there would soon be gone, though. Soon, Chess would perform as a full Alpha, all on her own. No magic needed.

Yet, something kept tightening around Chess's neck. Her collar? What was it doing?

Chess could hear her heart pounding inside her tight chest. This same heart that she thought had turned stone cold was starting to beat once again. But why?

Chess snarled to herself. It didn't matter.

* * *

Everyone at HQ had felt the second shake. Everyone had just assumed that it was an aftershock, though.

However, Max Tennyson was still worried about his son, daughter-in-law, and grandson. So, he had called them. To his relief, all was well. Ben had told Max that he would be at HQ as soon as he could.

Max had been relieved by this. He wanted Ben over at HQ just in case there was anything that needed to be done.

* * *

Once Ben got to HQ, Grandpa Max had been waiting patiently.

Once Max saw his grandson, he gave him a questioning look. "Ben, have you seen Rook? He isn't responding to any of us."

Ben blinked. "No. I tried contacting him before Chess attacked the city, but -"

"Wait." Max interrupted. "CHESS attacked the city?"

Ben gave a slight nod. "I was just as confused."

Max seemed to stare past Ben, as if he were seriously thinking about something. After a moment, he then turned back to Ben, this time seeming to drop the subject. "Never mind. When was the last time you saw Rook?"

"Yesterday." Ben answered.

"Strange." Max said, rubbing his chin.

Max looked up, like he was about to say something, but then bright, red lights flashed off everywhere. Sirens filled the room, letting everyone know that there was an emergency going on. Max glanced at Ben for a split second, but then turned away, rushing off towards another station. Ben quickly followed.

On scanners, both watched in horror as their city was devoured by an unknown darkness.

* * *

Darkness ran everywhere. Not just down the streets and into the human's homes, but through Chess's veins, as well. She could feel the new found power. It whispered it's secrets to her, offering it's power and great strength. Chess was more than willing to take this power into her own hands.

Chess would watch with strange fascination as the darkness would spread down the streets and homes of Bellwood, and once it would reach a human, the transformation would take place. Darkness would seep up the side of the human's leg, even if they tried running away, and would make it's way in through their finger nails, eyes, mouth, and ears. From the inside out, the human would be consumed by black slime, making it pour out the sides out their mouth and seep through the pores of their skin. Their skin would be easily replaced by the dark material of whatever the Eves were made of.

Not only had the darkness touched anything on the ground, but it had seemed to fester into the air, as well. The sunny day soon turned cloudy and dark. The sky turned from a light grey into a darker and darker shade of grey. Soon, there was thunder. Far off in the distance, there was lightning.

The way the spell worked was a thing of wonders. Instead of moving in a straight path, it seemed to first surround the city, making sure that no one could get in or out, making a death trap. Or, in this case, making a new pack. Soon, the darkness would swell, attacking every human until there was none left, and all that was left were Eves.

However, Chess had stopped walking through the streets, watching her onslaught when she witnessed something strange. There was an old woman. This woman looked oddly familiar to Chess, but yet she didn't. The woman looked so fragile, she looked as if she would fall and break right in front of Chess. She walked with a cane and had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. This woman had a stern look on her face, like a grandmother did when she was about to set some child straight.

Chess stopped walking, but only because she was amused by the sight of the mangled looking human. However, once Chess caught a glimpse of the woman's eyes, Chess released a snarl. This was no human. Chess knew the second she saw the one blue bright blue eye and one blood red eye. Chess wouldn't have this. She wouldn't have a member of another pack in her territory. There was simply no room for the old ways.

Chess watched as the woman changed from her human form into a tall, black figure. Even as an Eve, she looked pathetic. Her claw-like hands looked dull, as if the years had dulled her claws.

The way that the woman stood in Chess's way made it clear that she was a challenger. There was no room for challengers. There was no room for the old ways. And there as for sure no room for this old woman.

Chess decided that she would have to slay this one herself. Then, she would have to use the old woman's death as a warning to the rest of her new pack of just how powerful of an Alpha she was. Chess was powerful, and she would just have to remind this elder Eve.

"I may be old," the elder rasped. "But I'm an Alpha, nevertheless. A true Apha knows their place among humans. This goes FAR beyond what we are used to."

Chess snorted in irritation. "Humans are weak. I shall share my power with them, though. No longer will they be so low."

The female Eve snarled. "That ISN'T how an Alpha thinks. You are not a real Alpha. Just something made artificially."

Chess gave a low growl. "And what makes you think that something so weak such as yourself can stand up to me?"

"I don't believe such a thing." she muttered. "But I AM an Alpha, and I CAN lead a pack."

Just as she had said the words, dark figures seemed to move out from the corners of the streets, surrounding Chess. There had to be dozens of these old Eves. However, Chess had figured that something like this would happen. She just hadn't thought that it would happen so soon, or that it would happen in the city. Chess had expected a territory debate to happen somewhere in the woods, where the old pack lived, but she had never expected it to happen right when her pack was forming, let alone in the city.

Chess just released a small snarl. "There is not enough room for two Alphas."

"Agreed." the old woman muttered.

Chess knew that she was out numbered, but she also knew that with all her new power, the odds were in her favor. Chess twitched her ears, pin pointing where all the targets where. Only one mattered, though.

'There can only be one Alpha.' a voice reminded Chess.

* * *

_This chapter is short because of the fact that the last one of short, too. Two short chapters together, I guess. The next one will be on Saturday and will be twice as long._

_((I DO NOT OWN BEN 10. CHESS BELONGS TO SilverDorumon. I OWN THIS FAN FICTION AND THE IDEAS I PUT INTO IT SO THIS IS COPYRIGHT REDWOLFPRODUCTIONS.))_


	13. Chapter 13

**WARNING: This chapter contains violence/gore.**

Chapter 13 -

Rook had tried. He truly had, but nothing he could so or do had been able to stop the old woman.

Rook had gone into Undertown in the first place to reason with her, and try to find a way that they could help Chess, but the old Eve had gone overboard. She had overreacted and ran back into her old woods, looking for her old pack. She was looking to find them, and rally them up for whatever war was to come.

Rook hadn't meant for the old Alpha to start a war. He had only meant to seek help. Now, Rook was alone in finding an answer to helping Chess.

What about Ben?

As much as Rook hated to admit it, he didn't want to know if Ben had been met by the dangerous spell yet. Rook didn't want to know if Ben had turned into an Eve or not.

So, Rook was alone. He didn't have anyone else to help him with this one. He had to fight whatever was controlling Chess on his own, and he had to protect Chess from the pack. Rook knew he was just one person, but that wasn't going to stop him from protecting the one girl he loved the most.

* * *

Ben had ran out of HQ, intending on finding whatever was attacking the city of Bellwood, but it had been too late.

Running outside, Ben hadn't noticed the strange, black substance that creped up on him. Without him knowing, there was a tug at Ben's pant leg. Turning quickly, Ben saw the horrible spell attacking at his legs, crawling up under his legs and attacking at his skin. Ben cried out in fright.

Quickly, Ben turned into Bigchill, and tried to pull away, but no matter what he did, the black magic held on tightly to Ben, pulling him back down to the ground. The more Ben struggled, the more the black goo hugged and pulled at Ben's flesh.

Ben turned back into his human form, unable to fight back.

Soon, the dark spell had moved up to Ben's chest and neck. Ben had tried calling out in fright once more, but it had been useless as the goo seeped into his mouth and ears, blocking out any noises and sounds. Ben shut his eyes tightly, feeling himself being suffocated by the clay-like substance.

Ben curled up on the ground, feeling the dark energy flow into his body. His bones and flesh began to mold together, forming something new. This wasn't right. Something was horribly wrong.

The only thing that Ben remembered was pure darkness.

* * *

Chess kept feeling herself drifting in and out of consciousness. She would often feel herself wanting to change into her cursed form, but a sudden rush of pain would always sweep over her, as if her neck was being ripped open over and over again.

Chess didn't understand. She was her own master, now. Didn't that mean that she controlled when she was to be punished? Well, nevertheless, whenever Chess tried to change her collar would tighten, sending blood oozing from her neck down her chest and onto the pavement.

So, whenever Chess wasn't battling with herself, she was trying to keep the many Eves off her back. All would try to attack with claws and needle sharp teeth. And as many did so, and Chess continued to shift her body, Chess's clothes would rip and tear. Her body was covered in tatters of what was left of her clothes and splatters of her own blood.

The more the Eves attacked Chess and the more the collar resisted, the more angry Chess became. She would throw herself at the Eves in a mess of furry. She would rip and tear at whatever Eve flesh she could find. Her mind was scrambled and her vision was blurred with sweat and blood, but Chess didn't care.

Destroy, kill. Destroy.

Suddenly, there as a voice. What was that voice? At first, Chess didn't give much mind to this voice, just pushing it aside, but she couldn't ignore it anymore as the voice seemed to grow more, making the back of her head suddenly hurt.

Chess stopped her onslaught, pulling away from whatever she had been doing. She was not only covered in blood now, but in black goo. It seemed like none of her white fur was showing, now.

Turning around, Chess listened carefully, trying to pin point where the voice had suddenly come from. Chess expected one of the Eves to take that moment to attack, but the pack seemed to be trying to look towards the voice, as well.

Chess's vision was still blurred, and her mind was still buzzing with the sounds of war, but there was something else there, too. What was this new feeling? This was the same feeling that had made Chess's cold heart suddenly start beating again. And just by hearing this new voice, Chess felt that same feeling, but this time she felt her heart not only beginning to beat, but she felt it racing.

Off in the distance, Chess saw what she thought was a tall and slender figure. Chess thought it had been another Eve, but this figure wasn't as tall, and for sure didn't have black colored goo as skin. This figure had violet colored skin and a pale white face. His eyes were a bright yellow. They shone brightly and lovingly at Chess.

Chess's heart thumped even harder in her chest.

"Stop!" the voice repeated. "Chess ... stop."

The figure slowly walked towards Chess. Chess felt weak at the knees, not sure what to do. She knew that face. She knew that voice. How had she known? How had she ever forgotten in the first place?

"Rook ...?" she whispered.

Falling to her knees, Chess realized that it had been raining. What she thought was sweat covering her blood-stained pelt was really rain that was lightly falling to the ground. Chess had been too busy fighting to notice. Once she fell to the ground, her knees and hands hit a puddle of water.

That had been when Chess looked down into the dirty puddle, but it wasn't the puddle that was dirty. It had been Chess. Chess then saw her scratched up face that was covered in sweat, rain, and her own blood. Her once bright and beautiful white fur was now matted with scarlet blood and Eve goo. The collar around her neck was loosely hanging, but it had been tightening every now and again, making her neck ooze blood all around her chest.

A droplet hit the puddle, making it ripple. However, the droplet hadn't been blood, nor had it been sweat. It had been a tear.

Tears now streamed down Chess's face. For once in days, something inside her mind had snapped back on. She still couldn't remember much, but she could remember Rook. She could remember how they would walk together on patrols and how they would snuggle together in her pent house.

Chess then began to tremble. What was she doing? This wasn't her at all. Looking into her own reflection, Chess then realized that she looked like a monster.

Chess sniffled a breath, but then released a roar, pounding her fists in the puddle, trying to destroy this horrible image.

Chess heard Rook running towards her, maybe trying to stop her from going into another fit of rage, but Chess wasn't trying to fight anyone but herself. How could she let this happen to herself? Chess felt so used and stupid. All she wanted to do was make the pain go away. She wanted to be rid of this horrible memory. She wanted to be rid of this collar ad it's stupid stone that controlled her every move and thought.

Chess stopped pounding her fists in the puddle and started to rip and tear around her neck. Warm, thick blood covered her hands and splattered all over the pavement. Chess caught a glimpse of Rook's horrified expression.

"Chess!" Rook had cried.

Chess didn't listen. She continued to rip and tear. She felt light headed from all the blood loss, but she didn't stop. She wanted the collar gone.

Suddenly, Chess felt strong hands grip at her wrists, pulling her hands away from her throat. Chess felt warm blood in her mouth and hot tears in her eyes. Her vision was blurred, but she could see the worried face of Rook as he held her arms firmly and looked into her face sternly.

"Chess. Stop. I'm here." Rook said aloud.

Chess looked at her hands completely covered in blood and Rook grasping at them. Just the sight made Chess feel a sudden tingle of rage. This wasn't Chess's real mind thinking, but this was what the collar made her do.

Chess's body began to tremble, the power seeming wrap around Rook.

Rook looked frightened, as if he wanted to pull away out of fright, but he gave a face of determination as he pulled one of his hands away and slowly reached towards Chess's neck. Chess wanted to fight back, but something made Chess freeze. Her body tensed up as she watched Rook reach towards her collar.

Rook's hand grasped around the stone on Chess's neck. At first, he tried to get a firm grip on it, even though back goo just oozed around his arm and crawled up the sides of his body. Rook began to try and pull away at the stone, but the goo crawled up Rook's neck and began to harden, as if it were wax.

Rook wasn't giving up, though. Just when goo began to seep up the side of Rook's face and harden, Rook was able to pull the stone free, seeming to shatter it from Chess's silver collar.

As if Chess had just had had a ton of weight lifted off her shoulders, she gasped loudly, falling forwards. The hardened, black substance that covered Rook shattered, as well. Once Rook moved his arms free from their hold, he caught Chess in his arms, both of them sitting on the pavement.

Eves were everywhere, but they all looked towards the darkened sky. The rain clouds parted, and it stopped raining. Instead, white and fluffy clouds covered the sky, letting light come out.

The Eves screeched out in pain as the painful rays touched their skin. They ran towards the shadows, seeking shelter. The only Eve that stayed was the old woman, the Alpha. Instead, she changed into her human form, which seemed to be her only protection against the light.

Looking up at the sun, she gave a scowl, as if she still couldn't stand the bright light.

"Chess?" Rook whispered, cradling his loved one close to his chest.

Chess's eyes were closed, but her face muscles twitched, as if she was trying feel around. Rook reached one of his hands over and carefully wiped blood away from her eyes. Bending his head over, Rook placed his forehead on Chess's, whispering comforting words.

"Chess ..." he whispered, feeling his heart ach. "Please be okay ..."

Holding Chess's light and mangled body made Chess look helpless, but Rook wasn't going to let go. Rook then suddenly looked up, noticing that the old woman was still standing there, just staring at Rook and Chess.

Rook was suddenly swept over with a wave of pure hatred.

"You did this!" he cried out, his voice cracking.

The old woman blinked in surprise. "Excuse me?"

"I told you! I told you she was innocent!" Rook cried out, feeling his chest tighten and his heart ach even more. "She did NOTHING wrong!"

The old woman shook her head sadly. ""She had misused the power of our ancient gems."

"She had no choice!" Rook yelled, not in a fit of rage, holding Chess closer to his chest. "I tried to reason with you, but you were too ARIGANT and STUPID to listen to me!"

The woman drew her lips back in what looked to be a hiss. "I have only done what is best for my pack."

"If you REALLY cared for what was best for your pack, the you wouldn't have let such a monster take over as Alpha, or let your pack suffer once he died!" Rook cried, now feeling his voice give away.

The woman looked like she wanted to say something back, but she then just looked at Chess's body. Her ripped clothing barely covered her body. Her pelt was covered in dirt, blood, sweat, and rain. No longer did she look dangerous. Now, she looked almost pathetic.

Rook tore his gaze away from the old Eve, tired of looking at her. He looked down at Chess's still body. He placed his head on her chest, and released a huge breath of relief once he heard the soft sound of her heart beat. Looking back at Chess's face, Rook looked for any other signs of life, but saw none.

Although Chess was covered in blood and other fluids, Rook nuzzled his face against Chess's, slowly rocking back and forth. Rook hadn't noticed that the dark spell had run out of Chess and all of the darkness that ran around the city slowly began to vanish.

* * *

Sunlight moved all around the city. There was no place that any of the new pack Eves could hide. The painful rays hit their bodies, making their flesh burn, but it was a good kind of pain. This pain was like having a weight lifted off their shoulders. The black slime that they were made of seemed to slide off of their natural human bodies, showing human flesh. The black goo that fell to the ground sizzled in the sunlight, but then vanished into thin air.

Everyone fell to the ground, as if the ordeal had left them out of energy.

Ben Tennyson had been one of these people. When he woke up, he was in a daze, but he had enough energy to stand and look around. He was a little surprised to see that he was in a strange street with other people. Others were standing up too, though.

Everyone else looked equally surprised.

* * *

Rook didn't know how long he sat on his knees on the pavement. Perhaps for about ten or twenty minutes. Rook was pretty sure that the old woman had left. Rook really didn't care where she went, if it was Undertown or into the woods. He didn't want to ever see her again, or any other Eve.

Chess's chest heaved up and down, but was in painful shutters. Rook could only imagine what horrible pain Chess was in. Rook would steal all that pain away if he could.

Suddenly, Rook felt Chess sifting around. Pulling away from her face, Rook looked into her eyes. One of her eyes opened, showing her yellow eye. She looked around, as if she couldn't see Rook. Then, her other eye opened. Rook gave a small gasp to see her other eye was bright red. Her original power had returned.

Chess opened her mouth, as if to speak, but then coughed violently, making Rook tremble with fright.

Once Chess stopped coughing, Rook wiped away the droplet of blood that ran down the side of Chess's mouth. Rook looked into Chess's eyes. Chess then seemed to notice that he was there.

"Rook ...?" she muttered, her voice sounded scratched.

Rook placed his palm on her cheek, smiling down warmly at her, trying to look positive for her. "Yeah. It's me."

"You're ... here ..." she whispered before coughing again.

Rook steadied her, then made a hushing sound, telling her to keep quiet. "You're going to be alright, okay? Just ... relax."

Chess tried to smile, but she seemed too weak to even do that. Her lazy eyes were half closed. She opened her mouth to say something, but she didn't have enough strength to speak.

Rook rested his head on Chess's. He did so for only a few moments, then he heard footsteps. He quickly looked, expecting to see the old Eve, but instead he saw his partner, holding a large blanket in his hands.

Rook gave a quick and thankful smile as Ben rushed over and lied the blanket on the ground. Rook placed Chess on the blanket and carefully wrapped her up, picking her back up in his strong arms.

Chess's cold body was tightly pressed to Rook's warm body. With what little strength Chess had, she gave a weak purr, letting Rook know that she was still with him. Rook held her tighter, holding her head to his shoulder.

"You're safe now ..." Rook whispered.

Ben felt sympathy for his friend. Looking around the city, he knew that Chess wasn't safe. Not yet. The people of Bellwood wouldn't be quite ready to forgive the creature that had destroyed their beloved city and turned them all into Eves. However, looking at Chess wrapped in a blanket and being held in Rook's arms made Ben realize that he needed to help the people of Bellwood realize that Chess was truly innocent.

As if reading his partner's thoughts, Rook turned his head to Ben. "Ben, promise you'll help protect her? Promise you won't let the people hurt her?"

Ben looked at Rook, nodding. "Yeah. I promise."

* * *

_Wow. I have never loaded one of these this late. Oh well. I guess it has something to do with the Ben 10 Boot Camp. I was watching it for most of the day, so I didn't get to write much._

_((I DO NOT OWN BEN 10. CHESS BELONGS TO SilverDorumon. I OWN THIS FAN FICTION AND THE IDEAS I PUT INTO IT SO THIS IS COPYRIGHT REDWOLFPRODUCTIONS.))_


	14. Chapter 14

**WARNING: This chapter contains sexual themes.**

Chapter 14 - **END**

Chess lied on a soft bed. Her own bed to be exact. Her head spun and she was in a complete daze. Chess wasn't sure what had happened, but the pain didn't hit her right away. She had been in a daze for a while longer before she felt that her whole body was completely sore and weak.

Chess tried moving, but her muscles screamed of agony. So much as flinching would send pain signals throughout her whole body. So, Chess released a pained moan and lied completely still.

After a few more moments, Chess noticed something moving beside her. She turned her head slowly. Her vision was slightly blurred, but she quickly regained her sight as she looked ahead. Beside her bed was someone sitting down in a chair.

Chess was completely confused, but she then saw who the figure was. Warm, yellow eyes beamed down on Chess.

"Chess?" Rook whispered softly.

Chess stared blankly up at Rook as she tried to process everything that had happened. Rook must have seen Chess's confused expression because Chess felt him reach over and place his hand softly in her own.

Deciding that she would just rest, Chess released a sigh and closed her tired eyes. She held Rook's hand tighter, as if to make sure that he was still there.

Somehow, Chess knew that he wasn't going to leave, though.

* * *

Rook held his one hand in Chess's as he used his other to run his fingers through her jet black hair. She seemed so fragile to Rook, as if she were made of glass and would break at any moment.

Rook knew that Chess was something that caused trouble. LOTS of trouble. Just in the short time she had returned to Bellwood, she had destroyed the whole city and had gotten beaten more than once. Yet, she seemed to stand right back up strongly.

Rook had loved this about Chess. Her will was strong and she would do just about anything to do what she had to. Rook would do the same, but Chess just seemed to possess much more strength then Rook. And not just physically.

Looking down on Chess, Rook sighed. Oh, how love was complicated. Rook was sure that he loved Chess, but love seemed like something strange and new to Rook.

Rook was also sure that he was the only person in the world that had to go through such confusing and painfully things. Then again, he was always hearing about how love was confusing and painful.

Deciding that it would make him all the more confused to think about it, Rook gave up and just leaned back in his chair, still holding Chess's hand.

* * *

Chess had slept for the entire day. Her body was still completely sore and beaten, but she was feeling much more strong.

Once Chess had woken up, Rook had almost begged for her to take things easy, but Chess was stubborn and wanted to walk around her home. After all, she needed to move around so she wasn't lying in bed all day.

Chess would walk around her pent house and sit on the couch. She had eaten and done things she needed to do, but after that, she had gone back to sleep.

Rook understood how tired Chess would be, so he allowed her to sleep. Once he was sure that she was alright and asleep, he had left her.

* * *

The next day, Chess woke up alone in her room. Her body was still sore, but she was feeling much more better then she had been the day before.

Once she woke up, Chess had gone to the kitchen and gotten herself some food. After that, she went back to the couch to rest her body while she watched some TV. However, after a while of doing so, she hadn't expected Rook to suddenly show up at her apartment.

Rook seemed kind of awkward showing up without calling Chess first, but he had been worried. Chess had just rolled her eyes playfully at this and gave him and weak smile.

* * *

The next few days weren't as pleasant, though.

The people of Bellwood had been in an uproar. They had soon found that Chess was responsible for the destruction and that she was still in Bellwood, and not locked up some place far away from their home.

Legally, the Plumbers were working hard to keep the police off Chess's back for the time being, but they couldn't fight the fact that Chess had done something wrong, and that the people wanted justice.

Chess had been completely confused and 'down' because of this. So, Rook had stayed with her and made sure that no one tried to hurt her, and that she didn't feel alone.

After trying to cut a deal with the police, the Plumbers were able to get Chess on trial. She would be put on trial for her 'crimes' and the police would allow her to be under house arrest until she was sentenced or released.

Chess had to have an ankle bracelet on while she was under house arrest, making her all the more depressed. Chess had cried while she was alone, not wanting Rook to see her in such a weak state. She had never once thought that she would be under house arrest, or being put on trial for such a horrible crime.

Chess was just grateful that she had Rook to be there for her while she was going through something so horrifying.

* * *

A couple days later was when Chess had gone to her first day of being on trial. It was extremely scary to her, but she retained a straight face and would walk with her head held high.

As she walked from Rook's truck out to the front of the court house, there had been people standing outside by the steps. Police had put up yellow lines to keep people away from Chess, but they couldn't stop the hisses and yells coming from the people.

Police would try to stop people from throwing things at Chess, but some things had gone flying from the crowd and out towards Chess. Luckily, the people had missed poorly.

This made Rook furious. He had wanted to yell back at the people, or just defend Chess in any way he could, but he tried to stay strong and walk beside her.

The walk to the court house hadn't taken long, thankfully.

Once in the court room, Rook saw that there wasn't that many people in there. There were Plumbers and police officers, but there were also some firemen. Sitting close to the front of the rows was none other then Ben.

Ben watched as Rook and Chess entered the small court room. Everyone did.

Chess felt her ankle bracelet hugging tightly to her ankle, making her gulp nervously. She felt herself shaking, but she found new strength from Rook reaching over and holding his hand in hers.

* * *

Chess's trial had last longer then everyone expected. It had turned from one day into two. And then two days had turned into three days. Three days had quickly turned into a week.

Chess knew that her trail shouldn't have lasted any longer, but she also knew that she didn't have much of a chance of getting off her trail. So, Chess had openly poured out her feelings back at home.

Rook would stay with Chess, though. He didn't leave her side, knowing that she needed someone to be there for her during the whole thing.

Later in that night, Rook had held Chess tightly to his chest while they sat down on her couch. Chess hadn't been in the mood to cry, and yet she wasn't in the mood to do anything else, either. So, she just sat in Rook's lap and hugged tightly to his chest.

Later in the night, Chess and Rook started talking.

"What if they take me away?" Chess asked.

"They won't." Rook said firmly.

"But what if they DO?" Chess asked again, this time in a whisper.

Rook looked down at Chess with bright eyes. "I won't let them."

Chess looked back up at him, blinking.

"I promise." Rook said, meaning it.

Chess just held Rook tighter, purring lovingly. Rook purred back.

After a few moments of purring, Chess had wrapped her arms around Rook and planted a soft kiss on his lips. Rook kissed her back, giving another small purr of delight.

Rook moved his hands up Chess's back and ran his fingers through her hair. In return, Chess gave a small purr of joy as his touch both pleased and tickled her. Chess pulled away from their kiss and nuzzled her cheek against Rook's. Her teeth made their way to his ear, giving it a playful nip.

Rook returned the favor, playfully nipping at her pointed ears.

Chess then pulled away and looked Rook in the eye, as if she were wanting to say something important.

"Rook?" she whispered.

"Yes?"

Chess twitched her ears. "Do ... you like me?"

Rook gave a weak smile. "Well, yes, Chess. You are my best friend."

Chess looked away, as if that hadn't been what she had wanted to hear. "Oh."

"What?" Rook asked, feeling like he had messed up some place.

"Nothing." Chess said, shaking her head. "It's nothing."

Rook stared at Chess until she glanced back up at him, looking him in the eye.

"Chess." Rook began. "You are my best friend, but I consider you much more."

Chess tilted her head. "How so?"

Rook felt heat rise to his face, but knew that what he said was true. "Chess, I love you. And I have promised to protect you. I intend to keep this promise."

In response, Chess gave a warm purr and kissed Rook, again. This time, she kissed him more roughly.

She pulled away, resting her head on Rook's shoulder. "You really love me?"

Rook gave a small purr. "Yes, I do."

Chess purred with delight. "I love you, too."

And with that, the night's fun had only begun.

Their snuggling had quickly moved from the couch to Chess's bed. Chess was afraid at first, but Rook had been right there, letting her know that it was alright, yet he didn't pressure her to do anything she didn't want to do.

The rest of their night had been filled with love, lust, and the apartment neighbors below pounding their ceilings, yelling for Chess and Rook to be quiet.

* * *

The next day was the last day of Chess's trail.

Chess secretly knew that she wasn't going to get off. That was one of the reasons why she had spent last night with Rook to the fullest, seeing that it might have been their last night together.

After hours of being in the court room, there was FINALLY a decision. Chess had been shocked by the decision, though, and so had everyone else.

The judge had come to the conclusion that Chess wasn't to be released for her crimes, but she wasn't to go to jail, either. Seeing that Chess was a well-trained and trusted Plumber that had simply fallen victim to the criminal system, Chess was to leave Earth. She wasn't to leave for forever, though. She was just to leave until the city of Bellwood was completely healed, and the people had recovered from the shock.

The judge had estimated the time for her to be gone to be almost a full year.

Once the people of Bellwood had heard the judge's decision, they were sent into another uproar. Why wasn't this creature being sent away and locked up? And why was she only leaving Earth for a year? This made the people angry, but the decision was already made.

At the end of the trial, Chess and Rook had left and gone back to Chess's pent house. Rook seemed to be sent in a complete state of shock by the news, and so had Chess. However, Chess knew that this punishment was much less harsh then she was expecting.

So, Chess was thankful for the judge's kindness.

Rook, on the other hand, had taken the news rather hard. Chess was ... leaving?

* * *

It was the next morning that Chess had to leave. It seemed all so sudden for her to be leaving so suddenly, but Chess believed that the sooner she left, the sooner the people of Bellwood would be at rest.

Rook, Ben, and some other Plumbers had helped Chess move some of her stuff out from her home and into a ship. The ship had been given to her by the Plumbers and she was to use it to travel away from Earth completely. Once she was gone, it was a mystery to what she was going to do.

Once Plumbers were busy putting things into Chess's new ship, Chess and Rook had gone off to the side lines together.

Chess and Rook hugged each other tightly, loose tears falling down Chess's cheeks. She tried to purr, but she was silent, as was Rook.

Rook planted a soft kiss on Chess's forehead, looking down at her. "What are you going to do?"

Chess sighed painfully. "I ... I don't know."

Well, the truth was Chess did have some sort of a plan. She was looking to travel a little ways away from Earth, and perhaps land on an abandoned planet. Sure, she would be lonely, but Chess was looking for time alone.

The only person that Chess really wanted to see was Rook, and he wasn't coming with her. She had even asked him if he was considering it, but Rook had to think long and hard for his decision.

"I am a Plumber." Rook had answered. "And I have committed to being Ben's partner while protecting Bellwood."

This had hurt Chess deeply at first. Protect Bellwood? She thought he had once said that he was to protect HER. But once Chess thought about it, she knew that she was just being selfish.

Chess just needed to accept it. Rook was staying on Earth, and she was leaving.

The truth cut Chess open like a knife, but once she accepted it, she was able to live with the fact that she and Rook weren't going to be together.

However, Rook was just as stubborn as Chess, and not willing to give up.

"I'll wait for you." Rook whispered, holding Chess tightly, not wanting to let go.

Chess purred lightly. "I know, but I won't make you wait."

Rook snorted. "Nonsense. I'll wait for you, no matter how long it takes."

Chess rested her head on Rook's shoulder, watching as the other Plumbers finished boarding her things into the ship.

"We'll see each other soon, though." Rook said, certain of himself. "I travel out of Earth's orbit all the time. We will cross paths sooner then you think."

Chess now thought of this, and knew it was true.

Chess gave a small meow, purring as she held Rook tightly. "I know. And I love you."

Rook smiled weakly. "I love you, too."

* * *

Rook watched as the one woman he ever loved boarded the ship. Once all controls were go and she began to lift slowly off the ground, Chess had turned towards Rook and given his a fake smile, waving good-bye.

Rook waved back, but knew that he didn't need to. He swallowed hard as he watched as the ship lifted higher off the ground and into the air. The ship turned and slowly flew higher into the air.

Rook watched until the ship was nothing but a dot in the sky, and then it was completely gone. Rook stood there for a long time. He heard the other Plumbers leave, but he knew that Ben was still there.

The day looked nice enough. The sky was bright blue and there were many white, fluffy clouds everywhere. But the day didn't feel so great to Rook.

Ben came up behind Rook, sighing and placing a comforting hand on Rook's shoulder. "You going to be okay, dude?"

Rook just gave a weak nod.

Ben sighed, again, and then walked off.

Rook stood there for a while longer, but he eventually sighed painfully to himself. He looked towards the skies, knowing that Chess was somewhere out there.

"I'll wait for you." Rook repeated to himself.

* * *

"I find the map and draw a straight line,

Over rivers, farms, and state lines.

The distance from 'A' to where you'd be,

It's only finger-lengths that I see.

I touch the place where I'd find your face.

My fingers in creases of distant dark places.

"I hang my coat up in the first bar.

There is no peace that I've found so far.

The laughter penetrates my silence,

As drunken men find flaws in science.

"Their words mostly noises,

Ghosts with just voices.

Your words in my memory,

Are like music to me.

"I'm miles from where you are,

I lay down on the cold ground.

I, I pray that something picks me up,

And sets me down in your warm arms.

"After I have travelled so far.

We'd set the fire to the third bar.

We'd share each other like an island,

Until exhausted, close our eyelids.

And dreaming, pick up from,

The last place we left off.

Your soft skin is weeping,

A joy you can't keep in.

"I'm miles from where you are,

I lay down on the cold ground.

And I, I pray that something picks me up,

and sets me down in your warm arms."

* * *

_This is the last chapter of 'Forbidden Love'._

_I would like to thank Silver, who has been a wonderful partner and has provided me with such wonderful ideas for this fan fiction. I'm sad to see that there won't be any more chapters, but I'm also kind of happy that the fan fiction is finished._

_There will be a sequel to this, but it will be in the form of Drabbles. So, there won't be any real plot line like this story. There will just be sweet and wonderful Drabbles._

_The first Drabble should be posted in a few days or less._

_((I DO NOT OWN BEN 10. CHESS BELONGS TO SilverDorumon. I OWN THIS FAN FICTION AND THE IDEAS I PUT INTO IT SO THIS IS COPYRIGHT REDWOLFPRODUCTIONS.))_


End file.
